Fairy Tail: Stars and Dragons
by popcat123
Summary: In another world, Lucy Heartfilia was not an only child. In another world, after losing Weisslogia, Sting Eucliffe found a new family. (Originally, this was supposed to be an Alternate Universe where Sting is adopted Layla Heartfilia. I ended up changing a lot more than that. This is my first fanfic, so please be patient and review. I hope you enjoy!) -Pop Cat
1. Chapter 1- The Fairy's Tail!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Fairy Tail. It would be a completely different anime/manga if I did. More notes at the end- hope you enjoy!

* * *

"What? You mean that this is the only magic shop in Hargeon?" The seventeen-year-old girl asked. She had her blonde hair open, except for a single bunch that was tied in a miniature ponytail. She wore a blue and white shirt, a brown skirt, and black boots, and had a belt with a holster holding multiple silver and one gold key. Her chocolate brown eyes rolled upward, and she let out a half sigh, half groan.

"'Fraid so. We rarely get any wizards here," the shopkeeper said apologetically.

"That's alright, Lucy." The twelve-year-old boy had blonde hair as well, but it was a bit brighter than his sister's. It was also much spikier, with cow-lick partially covering a tiny scar across his eyebrow. He wore a white shirt with an orange vest, cargo pants, and sneakers. "These gadgets look pretty cool!" His dark-blue eyes gleamed in excitement. Lucy sighed.

"Sting, I know it's your birthday, but we still have a budget..."

"I know, I know. Ooh!" Sting held up a dark green beetle-shaped lacrima about the size of an orange. He tapped it on the head, and a hologram made of lime green light projected in front of him. On the left, there was a pad with a series of buttons to input numbers and functions. On the right was a long rectangle, empty except for a title- 'Constants'. "It's a Beetle! And a blank one, too!" He turned to the shopkeeper. "How many Constants can it hold?"

"100, though you can get upgrades of 20 each."

"Awesome!"

Lucy giggled. "Only you, Sting, would get excited over a glorified calculator."

"Hey! At least I found something."

"Yeah, well... nothing here is really catching my eye..."

"Now, don't say that!" The shopkeeper took out a disk that looked like a powder-case "We got a shipment of color changing that is extremely popular with the girls. Just a swipe here and..." His shirt shifted from green to... "Purple!"

"No thanks, I already have one. What I really want are some powerful gatekeys"

"Gatekeys, huh? That's an odd request."

"Ooh! The little doggy!"

Sting snickered. "The most powerful gatekey of all."

"Oh, hush, Sting. I really want one! So, how much?"

"22,000 Jewel."

Both of them froze and stared at the storekeeper.

"I'm sorry, how much was that?" Lucy started to sway her hips a little.

"22,000 Jewel."

"Are you sure?" Sting gave his best (admirably good) puppy dog eyes.

"Yes."

Lucy had enough. "I'm sorry-" she drew the words out as sweet as she could. She sat up on the bench and stretched luxuriously. "How much?"

/

"Ugh! We only got 1100 Jewel off! I know my sex appeal alone is better than that!"

Sting sighed. He was a little dejected that his puppy-dog eyes didn't work. But still… "At least we can still afford a good lunch and dinner, right? It'll cut into our savings a bit, but nothing a good job won't cover."

Lucy smiled at Sting. "Yeah, that's true."

"OH MY GOD, IT'S SALAMANDER!"

Sting yelped as a pack of ravenous fangirls nearly trampled him. As it was, he got swallowed by a large cloud of dust. Lucy giggled.

"That," he grumbled as he dusted himself off, "was not funny."

"Of course it wasn't. It was hilarious."

"Yeah, well you... wait, did they say Salamander? As in the Fire Dragon we heard about back in Oak Town?"

They both froze, then immediately took off after the pack of fangirls.

/

Sting was disappointed.

This guy was a fire mage. The reddish-purple flames that danced almost lazily around him (conveniently keeping the more rabid fangirls at bay) said as much. But he was not a Dragon Slayer.

"I think the rumors were exaggerated... this guy probably can't even- Lucy?"

Lucy was squeeing just like the fangirls, and blushing bright pink. "HE LOOKED AT ME!"

Sting's eyes widened in horror. "Sis, snap out of it!" He started shaking her by the arms (he was too short to reach the shoulders), but she simply let her self be shaken like a rag doll.

"Igneel, it's me!"

A pink haired teen around Lucy's age pushed past Sting and Lucy... letting them notice that Salamander's ring had heart-shaped charm. "Wha-?"

"Ah, so you've heard of me, kid?"

"Nope."

The fangirls shrieked with rage and attacked the teen. "HOW DARE YOU!" They started kicking him. The (blue?) cat he was with began to back up awkwardly.

"Ladies, please, I'm sure he didn't mean anything malicious by it."

They immediately turned back to him. Sting could literally see little hearts in their eyes. "Of course not, Salamander, sir!" Lucy and Sting both glared at him in disgust.

"Here, kid, you can have my autograph." He held up a rectangular white paper with 'Salamander' spelled out in gaudy cursive.

"Yeah, no thanks." The girls attacked him again and tossed him against a wall.

"Time for the red carpet." He snapped his fingers, and the wisps of flame all gathered beneath his feet. "Well, I best be off."

"You're leaving already?"

"Yes, I'm off to my yacht for a soiree. And you're all invited!" With that, he launched himself into the distance.

The girls all squealed and ran after him. Sting sweat-dropped. "That was kinda surreal."

He turned to the teen. He had a red jacket, baggy white pants, sandals, and a scaly white scarf. Those were dragon scales... maybe...

The cat walked up to the teen- on his hind legs, which was not the strangest thing Sting or Lucy ever saw. "Natsu, are you okay?" Somehow, neither of them were surprised the cat could talk.

Natsu groaned. "Man, who was that jerk?"

"Dunno, but he was a real creep." Lucy held out her hand to help him up.

"And a loser too," Sting added, helping Natsu up. "Seriously, an illegal charm spell just to get attention? That's just sad. I'm Sting, by the way."

"And I'm Lucy, his sister. You really saved me back there."

Natsu gave them a confused look. "But, I didn't-"

"You let me see the charm, which broke the spell. We should make it up to you."

Sting already had a plan. "How about lunch? Our treat!" Lucy nodded in agreement.

Natsu grinned. "Well, we can't say no to food, right Happy?"

"Aye!"

/

Lucy winced. She thought that no one could ever eat as savagely as Sting, but Natsu Dragneel was quickly proving that wrong. Even Happy ate a terrifyingly disproportionate meal. So much for the 1000 jewel we saved.

"So, you guys were looking for someone? Igneel, right?"

"Yeb." Fortunately, Natsu had the sense to swallow before talking. "He used to call himself a Salamander, so I got excited." Natsu proceeded to eat a tomato whole, which made even Sting make a face.

"Too bad the guy was a fraud," Sting muttered, munching on a chicken leg.

Natsu nodded. "Bet he can't even breathe fire like a real dragon."

"Technically, not all dragons breathe... WAIT, IGNEEL IS A DRAGON?" Lucy screeched. "'AND YOU EXPECTED A DRAGON TO JUST HANG OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWN?"

The looks on Natsu's and Happy's faces were priceless. Sting nearly choked on his chicken while laughing.

"Anyway, any reason you're lookin' for him?" Sting asked, trying his best to keep his hopes from rising._ Don't assume anything, Sting._

"Yep, he's my dad!"

Sting let out a half smile. Natsu was raised by a dragon, it smelled like he knew magic… still, there was always a chance he was wrong, right?

"Did he ever mention a Weisslogia?"

Natsu frowned, and put down a leg of a… Squid? Octopus? Cthulhu? Who knew? "Actually, yeah! He mentioned that 'Weiss' was a good friend of his. He had a kid about seven years younger than… wait, why are you asking?"

Sting's smile widened, and Lucy had a half smile on her face. "That's him! He was my Dad! He said he was really good friends with a dragon named Igneel!"

Happy's eyes widened. "But that means you're like siblings!"

Lucy gave Natsu a happy smile. "More like cousins, but still, family is family!"

Natsu's grin widened even more than Sting's. "Where's he now? Maybe he'd know where Igneel is!"

To his confusion, Sting and Lucy deflated at that. "He's... not around anymore," Sting said quietly. He didn't look up at Natsu's eyes.

"Oh." A quick wave of disappointment washed over him, but it was gone in a flash.

"Are either of you thinking about joining a guild? Because mine is the best!" It'd be nice to have another Dragon Slayer around, even if he didn't know where Igneel was.

"Yeah, we are, actually. We already have a guild in mind, though."

Oh. Natsu felt disappointed again. "Which one is it? Pegasus? Sabertooth?" _Please don't be Phantom please don't be Phantom please don't-_

Lucy held back a squee. "Fairy Tail! I know, they're really destructive, but all my role models are there!- Mirajane, Erza..."

"Yeah, and Mom used to tell us stories about Fairy Tail- when she was younger she used to be a member!" Sting wasn't quite as excited as Lucy, but he was certainly close.

Natsu grinned. Their excitement was infectious... especially knowing they'd join his guild anyway. Happy was frowning, though. "Wait, Sting, if Weisslogia was your dad, wouldn't he be Lucy's dad too?"

"No, actually. Mom found Sting wandering around in the mountains nearby, and adopted him." With that, Lucy hugged Sting close. "He's been my brother ever since!"

Natsu finished the last of his meal and got up. Happy hopped up onto his shoulder. "Well, thanks for the meal!"

"No problem!" Sting smiled, happy to finally meet his cousin.

"We better get going. Magnolia is a day's trip away if we walk, right Sting?" Lucy smiled at her little brother.

"Yep! We better get settled for the night. Maybe we'll see you later?"

Happy grinned, knowing very well they would see each other later. "Aye!"

/

_Later that night..._

Sting gave the boat a dull look. Even from the docks, he could hear the noises of partying. He hoped Lucy was having fun.

"Oh, hey Sting!"

Sting blinked and turned. Sure enough, it was Natsu and … why did Happy have wings?

"Hi, guys! Um, Happy, what are..?"

"Oh, I'm a wizard too! These are Aera! They let me fly super fast!" Happy said, with a loop for emphasis.

Sting smiled. Happy was insanely… well, happy. He offhandedly wondered if that's how he was named.

"So," Natsu started. He casually leaned onto the railing. He seemed to turn a little green when he noticed the yacht, and visibly held back his urge to vomit. "Where is your sister? Thought you guys were inseparable?"

"Usually, yeah," Sting said, smile fading. He gave the boat another dull look, as if trying to mentally yank it back to shore. "She's on that guy's boat-party- a soiree?" He shook his head. "Anyway, I don't really like boats, so I'm waiting for her to finish."

Both Natsu and Happy gave him confused looks. "The Salamander fake? I thought she hated him."

"She does, but the guy offered us a recommendation into Fairy Tail, so… what's wrong?"

They'd frozen. Sting couldn't see either of their faces, and he worried that he'd said something wrong.

"Happy?" Sting flinched, still thinking he messed up. Also, Natsu sounded serious, angry, and not at all like his goofy self. "Did you recognize that guy?" _Wait, what?_

"No," Happy said, his voice quivering in anger.

"Did- did I say something wro-"

"That guy isn't a member of Fairy Tail."

Sting's eyes widened, and his posture stiffened as well. "How do you-"

Happy spoke, voice low. "We're both members of Fairy Tail," he said, shifting his pack to show Sting a lime-green mark. _A Fairy Tail guild-mark._ "We don't recognize him."

Natsu let out a low, blood-chilling growl. It sounded a bit like Weisslogia when he got angry, except deeper.

Sting let out a growl of his own, anger bubbling up inside him. "My sister's on that ship. If that guy thinks he can hurt her…" He whirled to Happy. "Okay, it's kind of obvious that Natsu has some kind of motion sickness, so can you drop me off instead?"

Happy blinked. Natsu was still grasping the railing; it started to crack in his grip.

"Wait, Sting, you should really let Natsu and I handle this. I know he's not actually Salamander, but he's still a mage."

Sting let out a smirk- the kind Happy saw on Natsu numerous times, right before a battle. "So am I." He looked at Happy, and the smirk widened. "Dad taught me a few tricks before he left."

That was enough to snap Natsu out of it. "Wait, you're a-"

"So, can you drop me off? I'd rather not have to swim there."

Happy began to smirk as well. "Aye!" He looped his tail around Sting's belly and took off.

/

Lucy was having the worst day of her life.

First, the Salamander guy was being exceptionally creepy- 'allow the jewel drops of the fruit of the vine to dance upon your tongue?' _Seriously_? She half regretted not letting Sting tag along. 12 or not, he'd have stopped that nonsense pretty quickly.

_Then_, it turned out the guy was never planning to let her and Sting into Fairy Tail- apparently, she was off to Bosco as a slave.

And as if _that_ wasn't bad enough, he threw her keys into the depths of the ocean!

So, needless to say, she was pissed. _Why the hell did I want to be in this guy's guild?_

She felt hot, angry tears drip down her face as she screamed, "You're the worst kind of wizard!"

As if God himself was listening, a figure burst through the ceiling.

A figure that Lucy recognized.

"Sting!"

Sting looked at her. "Lucy, did this guy hurt you?" Lucy could practically _feel_ the anger radiating out of his voice.

"No, but he threw out the keys! And he's planning on selling all these girls!"

Sting grit his teeth so hard Lucy wondered how they didn't crack. "Happy, can you get Lucy out of here?"

"Aye!"

"Wha- I don't remember you having wings!"

"Let's save the details for later!" Happy swooped in and wrapped his tail around her. "We're getting out of here!"

They flew up into the night sky. Even as Salamander launched fireballs at them, Lucy felt as if her life was looking up.

Then Happy's Aera wore off.

"YOU STUPID CAT!", she screeched.

_But hey_, she thought, spotting her keys,_ it could still be worse._

/

Sting was so glad they were in the shallows. He had faith that Lucy would be fine.

"Don't let her get away! If the Council gets wind of this, it'll mean no end of trouble!" Sting raised his eyebrows. Salamander was ignoring him.

"Yes, sir!" A tall guy with a scar across face rushed off. Sting socked him right in the stomach. _His mistake._

"Hey, buddy." Sting leveled a _very_ pissed glare at Bora. "You have a _much_ bigger problem than her."

"What, you?" Salamander sneered. "Crimson Shower!"

Sting felt a smirk tug at his mouth. He leaped in the air and flipped to avoid the fiery bullets. He twisted so that he was facing the guy again, and gathered magic energy from his stomach to his mouth. "White Dragon's..." Salamander's eyes widened. "ROAR!" A pure white laser burst from his jaws. Salamander rolled to avoid it.

He heard him mutter "Lasers from his mouth?"

"To answer your question, yeah," Sting smirked and shifted to a battle stance. "Me."

He felt pretty good about himself. Actually, he felt that he looked really cool.

It may have been cooler if Lucy didn't choose that second to send out a tidal wave.

"GODDAMMIT AQUARIIIUUSSS!" he screeched as he was swept into the ocean.

/

"What is your deal? Were you even aiming for the ship?"

"Oh, my mistake. I didn't mean to get the ship too."

"You mean you were aiming for _me_?!"

"Don't call me for a couple weeks. I'm taking a vacation with my boyfriend. And he's _hot_."

"YOU DON'T NEED TO RUB IT IN!"

"You two don't have the best relationship, do you?", Happy asked.

As Aquarius faded away into gold light, Lucy heard a groan a few feet away from her.

"Sting!"

She ran over to him and dragged him out of the sand.

He gave her a glare without any real anger. "Seriously? Do you have any self-control? You know I can barely handle regular transportation."

She gave him a mock glare back. "Hey, don't blame me. Blame Aquarius, if you want to."

Sting let out an involuntary shudder. "Yeah, I'd rather not."

"Hey, I know! If the fish lady gives you any more problems, just leave her to me!" Happy said cheerily. Lucy'd forgotten he was still there.

Sting giggled and Lucy sighed. "I don't know how much more of this stupid cat I can handle."

"Hey."

Both of the siblings' eyes widened. Lucy rushed forward, hands already reaching for her keys. "Natsu!"

Happy flew up in front of her. "You know, Natsu's a wizard too!"

Sting held onto Lucy's hand. "I wanna see what he does," he whispered.

"So, you're a Fairy Tail wizard, huh?" It was impossible to see Natsu's face from where they were standing. Sting's and Happy's smirks widened. Lucy wondered if she was missing something.

"So what's it to you? Get him!"

Two of Salamander's men rushed forward. Natsu swatted them away…

Revealing the bright red Fairy Tail mark on his right shoulder.

"Because I'm Natsu of Fairy Tail- and I never saw you before!"

Lucy gasped. "Natsu's a Fairy Tail wizard?"

"Not just any wizard- right Happy?"

"Aye!" Happy gave the two a cheerful smile. "He's a Dragon Slayer like you, Sting!"

Lucy's eyes widened. "What element?"

"Oh, shut up," the Salamander said. He launched a fireball at Natsu, which exploded, engulfing Natsu.

Lucy's eyes widened, but Happy simply grinned. "Fire."

"Oh, man! Are you sure your really a fire wizard? 'Cuz these are the nastiest flames I've ever tasted!"

Sting let out a disbelieving laugh. "So that means…"

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

It was very clear that the henchmen were panicking. "That scaly scarf, that pink hair… there's no mistaking it. This guy's the real deal, Bora!"

"Don't call me that, you fool!" Bora squeaked.

Salamander… no, the imposter and his men were engulphed in flames.

The real Salamander rushed forward, fist wreathed in fire.

"Natsu's the real Salamander." Sting gave Lucy a happy grin. "He's really another Dragon Slayer."

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

Bora was launched into the bell tower.

Then Lucy realized something. "He's amazing, but…"

Sting snapped out of his awe and finally noticed. "Oh..."

Bora and his men were not the only things engulphed in flames.

The entire harbor was on fire.

"HE OVERDID IT!" Lucy screeched in horror.

Happy was panicking over a slightly related reason. "Natsu, the army's coming!"

Sure enough, they were. There was no mistaking those yellow and blue shields.

Suddenly, Sting and Lucy were yanked forward by the forearms.

"Oh, crap, we gotta run!"

"Why are you dragging me along?" Lucy protested.

"Hey, you said you wanted to go to Fairy Tail!"

Lucy and Natsu made eye contact, Lucy's panic forgotten. She felt her cheeks turn a delicate shade of pink. Sting snuck out of Natsu's grip and ran alongside him, laughing mad with joy.

"So, let's go!"

A wide grin formed across Lucy's face as Natsu let go. "All right!"

Sting and Lucy, as they ran after Natsu and Happy, and away from the army- they had no idea what kind of hardships lay ahead of them.

They wouldn't regret their decision for a second.

* * *

Hi! My name is Pop Cat, and, as my summary stated, this is my first FanFic!

The original plan was for the story to be an Alternate Universe where Sting was Lucy's sister. However, I decided that there were a few... problems and opportunities within the world and plot of Fairy Tail that I was unable to ignore. Believe me, I tried.

So, this story is sort of inspired by the Fairy Tail Mythos series, by Navek- he ended up fixing a lot of the problems I plan on addressing here!

That said, while I will add some OCs, this fic will be centered around and mostly containing the characters from the original series.

Like I said in the summary, since this is my first fic, please be patient with me- and please review!

-Also, I'd like to apologize about the quick update. I forgot to do one last proofread. Sorry!

-Yet another update! I'm currently looking for a beta reader to help with this story. Anyone interested with the premise, and who wants to help, please PM me and let me know!


	2. Chapter 2- Fire Dragon, Monkey, and Wolf

Hi everyone! Again, I own nothing- except for the OCs. Please, review!

* * *

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

"Woah…" Sting found himself lost for words.

The guildhall was huge! Yet, even from the outside, he could practically feel the warm, homely aura. He could also hear the laughter, and suddenly, he wanted more than anything else to be a part of the guild.

Lucy hesitated in front of the gates. Sting couldn't blame her. All those months of wandering, hoping, dreaming, they led up to this moment. The second they opened those doors, new relationships, new friendships, new rivalries… a new _family_ would open up to them.

Opening those doors would be leaving the past behind and stepping forward into the future. It was everything they ever wanted, but more than enough to make them hesitate.

Natsu interrupted his reverie. By kicking down the doors. _Awesome_.

"WE MADE IT BACK ALIVE!"

"Natsu, Happy! Welcome back!"

"Hey, Natsu!" It was a guy with buck-teeth, laughing along with a group of others. "You went overboard again! Looks like you demolished half a harb-"

He couldn't finish his sentence because Natsu kicked him in the face. Lucy felt her jaw drop as Sting's eyes widened in admiration.

"YOU JERK! YOU LIED TO ME ABOUT SALAMANDER!"

"Hey, I was only passing along a rumor!"

"IT WAS ONLY A RUMOR?"

"YOU WANNA FIGHT?"

"LET'S GO!"

And so began the siblings' first Fairy Tail Barfight. Fights spread from Natsu's battle like… well, wildfire. Everyone seemed to burst forward into arguments, and lunged at each other, filling the air with confusion and chaos.

They both smiled, eyes glimmering.

_It's everything Mom said it would be._

"We're really in Fairy Tail!" Lucy cheered.

"So Natsu's finally back, HUH?" It was a black haired teen Sting and Lucy would later recognize as Gray Fullbuster. "Hey, Natsu, let's finish what we started!" Lucy felt her entire face turn red as Sting looked on in genuine concern and confusion. They both thought as one, albeit in _very_ different tones.

_Why is he naked?_

"Gray, your clothes," a chocolate-brown haired woman in very revealing clothes pointed out.

"I don't have time for that! Natsu! Get over here and fight me!"

"Put some clothes on first!"

"They're right. The men here have no class at all." The lady they would soon know to be Cana lifted a barrel and began drinking directly from it. Sting honestly wasn't sure if he should be impressed or scared. Lucy had no such dilemma, and let out a whimper.

"It's already noon and you boys are already whining like babies." A mountain of a man with white stepped up from behind them. This, they would learn, was Elfman. Lucy was intimidated and respectful of him for all of 0.5 seconds. Then he shouted, "REAL MEN ARGUE WITH THEIR FISTS!"

"Oh," Lucy sighed. Sting burst into laughter.

"Really, sis, what were you expecting?"

Both Natsu and Gray turned as one and decked Elfman in the face with a roar of, "Get out of the way!" Elfman flew into the ceiling.

Lucy sweatdropped. "For him to last more than five seconds, I guess."

"Man, those guys are causing quite the racket." It was a man with short orange hair, a large green jacket, and black pants, surrounded by two different women. This time, Lucy was able to recognize the speaker immediately.

"It's Loke!"

"One of the guys from your potential Fairy Tail boyfriend list?", Sting asked, voice dry as a desert." Because it looks like you'd have competition."

A bottle flew from the depths of the fighting to Loke's face. A red welt formed on his forehead, and his eyebrows wrinkled in annoyance. He sighed. "Well, I'm going to join in. But only to protect you girls, of course."

"Good luck, Loke!", they cooed.

Lucy sighed and crossed his face off her magazine. "Not anymore." Sting laughed as Lucy groaned. "Is there even one sane person in this place?"

"Oh! Are you two new?"

Lucy squeed. "It's Mirajane! In the flesh!" So it was. Mirajane was a woman a couple of years older than Lucy, with snow-white hair, sky blue eyes, and a beautiful red dress. Sting, managing not to get as tongue-tied as his sister, decided to introduce himself. "Yep! My name is Sting, and this is my sister, Lucy!"

"Nice to meet both of you! The master should be here in a couple of minutes- I hope you don't mind waiting.

Lucy finally recovered from her fangirling. "Not at all, but… er, how long do these barfights take?"

"Master Makarov should be able to stop it when he arrives. I understand if it isn't your cup of tea, but, just so you know, this happens a lot. I hope it's not an issue."

Sting grinned in a way that started to make Lucy nervous. "Of course not!" He whirled to Lucy, eyes sparkling. "Can I join in?"

Mirajane smiled "Of course!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Lucy screeched, hugging Sting close to her.

"Oh, come on sis, I can handle myself!" he whined, trying to free himself from her grip.

"Don't worry, Lucy, I know this all seems scary, but…"

As if on cue, Elfman was launched across the room, hitting Mirajane in the face. She ended up being squished against the wall.

"They're all great big softies, really…" she murmured before passing out.

Then, Gray hurtled right into Sting. Gray muttered an apology to a somewhat traumatized Sting. Lucy soon saw the reason behind his trauma and immediately wished she didn't.

"Natsu, you jerk! Give me back my underwear!"

Yep. Natsu gave Gray a triumphant smirk, swinging the boxers in a lazy circle.

As if the situation wasn't bad enough, Gray actually turned to Lucy in all his naked glory. And as if _that_ wasn't bad enough, he had the _gall_ to ask "Excuse me, miss, can I please borrow your underwear?"

"AS IF!" Lucy screamed, punching Gray away.

"Honestly, the men here really do have no class," Loke said quietly, lifting Lucy into his arms as if she were his bride. Then, he was punched away by Elfman.

"REAL MEN FLIRT WITH THEIR FISTS, LOKE!" Natsu kicked him away.

"I told you to butt out!"

Cana put down her bottle, exasperated. "A girl can't drink in peace here," she muttered angrily to herself.

Then, to Lucy's horror and Sting's excitement, she pulled out a card, which glowed with a magic circle. "That's enough, guys."

"Yeah, says who?" Gray (who, thankfully, recovered his boxers) retorted. He went into a stance and activated another magic circle.

And, in front of Lucy's and Sting's wide eyes, all the members of Fairy Tail began to activate their magic.

Their eyes only grew wider as a literal Giant appeared in the hall.

"THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU BRATS!"

"He's huge!" Lucy screamed.

"Woah! What kinda magic is that?" Sting asked.

"Oh, welcome back, Master!" a recovered Mirajane greeted.

"Master?!" Lucy asked, panic increasing.

Across the room, Natsu let out a wide grin. "Hah! Looks like I won, because the rest of you are cowa- urk!" the Master stomped on Natsu, shutting him up quickly.

"Oh, master, we got two new members!" Mirajane cheerfully stated.

"Hmm?" And, to both of the siblings' astonishment, he shrank to an old man even shorter than Sting, with a strange orange and blue hat, and a shirt and jacket about the length of his entire (not very large) body. And clogs.

"Nice to meet you two. Mira will get you two sorted out in a bit."

Then, he flipped up onto the second floor.

… well, into the railing of the second floor, but he was able to crawl up afterward.

"You've gone and done it again, you bunch of clods!", he began. He held up a thick stack of papers. "Just take a look at how much paperwork the Magic Council sent me this time!"

"This time?" Lucy asked under her breath. Mirajane nodded cheerfully. Sting continued to look at the Master apprehensively, fully expecting a lecture.

"This is the biggest pile of complaints yet! Have you lost your minds?! All you kids are good for is getting the higher-ups mad at me!" The majority of the guild broke eye-contact and stared guiltily at the floor.

Makarov let out an annoyed grumble. Both the siblings began to worry. What would happen if _they_ started messing up?

"However..." Suddenly, the Master's hand burst into flames, igniting the stack of papers. "I say to _heck_ with the Magic Council!" With that, he tossed the burning papers into the crowd- which Natsu caught in his mouth like a hungry dog snatching a treat from midair.

"Now, listen up. Any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power. It is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization. To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus. It should take over your being and come pouring out of your soul!"

Lucy's eyes began to widen and Sting's began to sparkle.

"If all we worry about is following rules, then our magic will never progress. Don't let those blowhards in the Magic Council scare you! Follow the path you believe in! Because _that's_ what makes the Fairy Tail Guild _number one!"_

With that, he held up his hand, with a single finger pointing up to the sky. The entire guild cheered and did the same gesture. Both Lucy's and Sting's grins couldn't possibly become any wider.

_Yep! Just like what Mom said!_

/

"So, there?"

"Absolutely!"

Mirajane ("Oh, just call me Mira, everyone does!") had already gotten the two siblings a room each and helped them settle in. They'd also gone over all the paperwork needed and were finally getting to the part they'd always dreamed of- the marks.

"And you want yours in the same place as Natsu, right?" Mira asked.

Sting grinned up at her. "Yep! Except I want it to be white, please!" Lucy smiled. It seemed as if Sting had already found a role model of his own.

"No problem!"

Lucy herself got a pink stamp on her right hand. Excited, the two ran up to Natsu and Happy. Natsu was currently eating a meal… that was on fire. It sort of reminded Lucy of how Sting would insist on only eating white food. She smiled fondly at the memory.

"What is it, sis?" Sting asked. Natsu looked up, noticing them.

"Oh, nothing," she said, her smile turning mischievous. "Just remembering how you'd eat Mom's novel manuscripts whenever you thought your food wasn't white enough."

"LUCY!" Natsu and Happy laughed at Sting, who was blushing bright red, while the others looked on in confusion. Mira, who had followed them, realized something.

"Come to think of it, I forgot to ask you guys what kind of magic you use!"

Lucy smiled. "I practice Celestial Spirit Magic!"

"Oh, wow! That's very rare! How about you, Sting?"

Sting gave them a wide grin. "I'm a White Dragon Slayer."

Dead silence spread over the guild at those words. Sting looked around, a little confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You hear that, guys?!" a smoking man with a mullet shouted, excitement oozing out of his voice. "We got another Dragon Slayer!"

An almost mad wave of cheering spread throughout the guild, and Sting grinned, a little sheepish from the attention. Natsu suddenly hugged him close, holding up a mug of something that was on fire. "OUR DADS WERE REALLY CLOSE FRIENDS! WE'RE PRACTICALLY COUSINS!"

Across the guild (though close enough to know Natsu would hear him) Gray sighed. "Aww, and he was a nice kid too."

Natsu immediately glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he growled.

Gray smirked. "Well, he isn't gonna stay that way for long with you as a role model, right?"

Happy stopped Natsu from decking Gray in the face with a cry of, "Natsu, we really need more food-money!"

Natsu sighed. "You're right." Then, he raised his voice so that it would be impossible for Gray _not_ to hear him. "Food is _much_ more important than Fullbusters!"

Quietly, Gray snorted. "Food is more important than anything for you."

Sting got up and followed Natsu to the job request board. "You know, Lucy and I probably need some cash too. I'm sure the residencies here are nice, but it'd be nice to have our own place."

Natsu smiled down at him. "You ever take a job before?"

"Yeah! Except they were all freelance. Are guild jobs different?"

"Not really. You just have to check in with Mira or the Master before going out. And guild jobs generally give you much more than freelance jobs."

"Cool!" A flier on the board caught his eye. "Oh, wow, you're right! That's 160,000! Just for catching a few thieves!" He leaped up to grab it. He missed. He leaped up again. And again. And again. With each jump, he got more and more frustrated. Natsu smirked.

"Need a hand?"

"No-" Sting jumped.

"I-" he jumped again.

"got-" he jumped yet again.

"... that one wasn't even close," he admitted sadly.

Grinning, Natsu grabbed the flier. "You know, there's no problem in admitting you're short."

Sting glared up at Natsu. To Natsu, that was about as effective as a puppy growl. "I am _not_ short," Sting hissed.

Natsu shrugged, smiling. "Whatever you say, _midget_."

"I AM _NOT_ A _MIDGET_!"

"Then you should be able to grab this!" Natsu held up the flier… much higher than it was originally. Sting shrieked with anger, and tried to grab it from Natsu… and failed miserably.

Lucy laughed. "Looks like Natsu's adjusting to his big-cousin role pretty quickly."

Mira laughed with her. They both watched fondly as Sting struggled to reach the flier until he finally resorted to climbing up the bar to grab it from Natsu.

"Hey, that's cheating!"

Sting glared at Natsu again as he hopped down. "And holding it up like that isn't?"

"Isn't my dad back yet?"

Sting blinked and turned around. By the bar, a small, seven-year-old boy with dark purple hair and a black shirt was talking to Makarov.

"No. Don't complain so much, Romeo. The son of a wizard should stay at home patiently waiting for his father's safe return."

"But… he said he'd be back in three days… and it's been over a week now! He's in Mt. Hakobe… it isn't that far away! Please, go look for him!"

"That's enough! Your father can take care of himself! Now go home and drink some milk or something!"

The kid punched Makarov in the face and ran off sobbing.

"He was pretty tough with that kid."

"He might talk tough, but I'm sure the Master is pretty worried himself."

**CRACK!**

"Hey, Sting, be more careful! You broke the board!"

Lucy looked to the board and saw a livid Natsu… and a Sting who had transcended far beyond conventional rage. She immediately got up, with Mirajane watching curiously.

"Sting, wait!"

She grabbed Sting by the shoulder. He turned around and gave her a blank stare that held all the fury in the world.

"Lucy, don't try to stop me."

"Do you know where Mt. Hakobe is?"

Sting blinked, and the anger melted a little. "No, but-"

"Or how large it is? I know it's summer, but the tops of some mountains stay snowy all year round."

Sting calmed down, but was still being stubborn. "It can't be hard to-"

"Do you know what mission the guy went on? _Do you even know his name?_"

Sting let out a sigh that was an answer in itself. She pulled him into a hug.

"So before you go run off into the sunset, go grab some winter clothes for both of us, and I'll see if I can find out some details. I wouldn't be a good big sister if I let you go out on your own."

Sting gave her a hug back. "Alright." They broke apart, and Sting gave her a smile- though it still wasn't as goofy as it should be, Lucy noted. "It's a good thing _you_ have common sense, at least."

"One of us has to. Oh! And grab some first-aid supplies too! We don't know how badly injured this guy is!"

"Will do!" Sting shouted as he rushed off to his room.

Lucy sighed and walked up to Natsu- who seemed to have calmed himself down. "So, do you know anything? I assume you know the guy's name."

Natsu nodded. "Macao Conbolt. I think he went to Hakobe to get rid of some Vulcans."

"That's right." Mira walked out of the bar and gave the door Sting exited through a concerned look. "Is he okay? I understand why Natsu would get upset, but…"

Lucy sighed, and pulled up a stool. "Before my Mom found him, Sting used to live with a dragon named Weisslogia." She nodded to Natsu. "I assume that Natsu and Igneel had a similar relationship."

"He was my dad," Natsu said, quietly.

Lucy nodded. "And Weisslogia was Sting's dad. He's been taking care of Sting since before Sting could even remember. He taught him speech, culture, magic… everything."

"Did he disappear?" Happy asked.

Lucy let out a soft, bitter laugh. "Sometimes, I think Sting would have preferred that. It'd be better for him in the long run."

Natsu started angrily with an angry "What?!", but Mira put a hand on his shoulder. "What happened, then?"

Lucy sighed. "He got sick. I… I don't know what kind of disease it was, especially since it was a dragon sickness. According to Weisslogia, it wasn't contagious to humans.

The point is, Weisslogia started getting weaker and weaker. And whatever the disease was, it was… _hurting him_. Sting said he was in so much pain."

Lucy started to cry. "So much, after the first month, he started begging Sting to kill him."

Natsu's eyes widened, Happy looked horrified, and Mira covered her mouth with her hands. Lucy didn't notice. "Sting refused, at first. He kept insisting that Weisslogia would get better. But Weisslogia kept begging. It started becoming daily, then hourly, until he wouldn't stop begging."

"Weisslogia ended up dying. And Sting spent the next few months wandering the mountaintops."

Lucy sighed. "Mom found and adopted him. He loved her, and when she passed away…" Lucy shook her head. "Anyway, I don't think he can stand the idea of anyone else losing their parent."

"I- I can't blame him," Natsu muttered.

Mira looked lost in thought. For a few moments, she said nothing. Then, she found the words she was looking for.

"Just because we're members of Fairy Tail, it doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues. We've all had our fair share of suffering and loss... but that doesn't mean we don't share the feelings. One guild member's joy is the entire guild's joy. One guild member's sadness is the entire guild's sadness."

She looked up, and gave Lucy a sad smile. "So, Lucy, what I guess I'm saying is… you two are Fairy Tail wizards now. So don't forget we're one big family now, okay?"

/

"And so… Next time we both have free time, I'm going to hang out with Mira at her place!" Lucy squealed.

"You know it's wrong to steal her panties, right?" Happy asked. Natsu, even in is pseudo-unconscious state, snorted.

"What, are you speaking from experience, Happy? Didn't think you had it in you." Sting was leaning against Lucy's shoulder. Lucy patted him on the head.

"Sting, you really should just sleep for a bit. You didn't have a good rest in ages."

"Meh, I'll sleep when we get back."

Sting sighed. "You know, there is one question I still have about this mission."

Happy blinked. "What's that?"

"How did Lucy threaten you to come along?" He adjusted his dark blue, fur-lined jacket, and raised an eyebrow at Natsu and Happy. Lucy began to sputter out some indignant protests.

"I dunno… what you're talking about… I'm saving Macao… like you," Natsu mumbled, trying his best not to vomit.

Sting gave him a long, unreadable look, then shrugged. "All right."

Suddenly, the cart lurched forward and stopped moving.

Natsu immediately sat up.

"F- Forgive me… but a horse-drawn carriage can't go any farther in this!"

Sting smiled, happy that the dumb cart finally stopped moving. "That's alright!"

The second they got out, the cart began to drive away. "Wait! How are we supposed to take Macao home in this?"

"Come on, Sis! We can just use Horologium." Then, Sting gave her a mock-glare. "Oh, yeah. Don't use Horologium to hide in. Again."

"I ONLY DID THAT ONCE, AND IT WAS _POURING_ OUTSIDE!"

Natsu sighed. For someone who lived freelance for a good year, Lucy seemed to be pretty sheltered._ At least she isn't wearing her usual clothes._ Instead, she was wearing a furry jacket with the same cross as her usual shirt, with thick black leggings and brown boots.

"Wait, Natsu, aren't you cold? All you have is a scarf!" Lucy gave him a concerned look. Natsu rolled his eyes.

"I'll be fine, _mom_. I'm a fire dragon slayer, and I fight Gray every other hour. This is nothing."

Sting blinked. "...Are you implying that Gray is stronger than a blizzard?"

Natsu turned pale as he realized what he had said, and Happy's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no! Natsu's possessed! We need holy water!"

Lucy shivered. "More like holy ice. I think even holy water would freeze in this weather."

/

"MACAO! WHERE ARE YA?"

"MR. CONBOLT? YOUR SON IS REALLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"

Happy descended from the snow-filled air above.

"Happy, did you notice unusual?" Lucy asked. Happy sighed and shook his head, undoing the makeshift leash of their emergency coil of rope.

"I can barely see my own paws up there!" Happy wailed.

Sting was about to say something comforting when a breeze came from uphill- carrying a scent that did not belong on a snowy mountain.

"...Natsu, what does Vulcan smell like?"

"Not much different from your average mon…" Natsu's eyes widened as he smelled it too. "MOVE!"

He yanked Sting and Happy out of the way, and Lucy leaped in the other direction. A large, black and white ape with a horn on its head hit the ground where they were standing a few seconds earlier. Cracks appeared in the snowy rocks.

Suddenly, the ape lunged to Lucy… who ended up a good five feet away from them. With a disturbing cry of "Me like women!" it scooped her up under its arm and bounded away.

"... It can talk?"

"LUCY!"

/

_What have I gotten myself into?, _Lucy asked herself. The monkey was circling around her, doing a very, _very_ strange dance, letting out several grunts of "Uh ho!".

Suddenly, the monster turned on her, with a leer Lucy was pretty sure would haunt her nightmares.

"HEY! There you are, you stupid monkey!"

A pink haired blur ran up to them at top speed.

"Natsu!"

"Where is Mac- AH!" Natsu, in his excitement, didn't realize how icy the floor was. He slipped and tumbled into the wall. Lucy facepalmed.

_And, of course, he is incapable of a regular entrance._

"Alright, Monkey, where're you hiding Macao!"

"Man?", asked the Vulcan.

"Yeah, he's a man! About as tall as me, purple hair… come to think of it, almost as perverted as you sound."

Lucy began to forget why they wanted to save this Macao.

The ape began to grin, and, with a grunt, motioned to the side of a cliff.

"Oh! We understand each other!" Natsu rushed to the edge of the cliff. "Now, where exactly is- AAH!" The ape shoved him off. A blue and green blur darted after him. Lucy hoped the cliff was a lot shorter than it looked.

The ape began to do another bizarre victory dance. "Don't need men! Me like women!"

Lucy let out a soft growl. "I am so done with this dumb monkey." She reached for a silver key at random and pulled out one with a paw at the end and a sapphire-eyed wolf at the head. Lucy smiled. _Perfect_. She slashed at the air, and a silver magic circle appeared behind her.

"Open! Gate of the Blue-Ice Wolf! Lupa!"

A bright light appeared where she'd slashed the key, and out rolled a teen with silvery white hair and ice-blue eyes. She wore a winter white coat, white pants, and white hiking boots. She also already had two silver throwing knives in hand. Two canine ears poked out of her hair.

"Hey, Lucy!" Lupa grinned, showing off her prominent canines. "Where's the enemy?"

"More Women! More Women!" The ape was, unsurprisingly, excited by this new development. Lupa took a step back, startled.

"... Lucy, I know you asked me to deal with weird suitors before, but…" She threw out her hands at the strange ape, giving Lucy an indignant look. "What the actual heck is this?"

"It's a Vulcan! He kidnapped me, and possibly another person!"

Lupa let out an annoyed huff. "And Lyn says he gets the weird ones…" she tossed out the two knives, which the Vulcan swatted away. She drew a knife with a blade as long as her forearm.

"No! Bad women! Bad women!"

Lupa let out an angry growl. "I'm going to enjoy this way too much."

"Cheap move, pushing me out like that. Good thing Happy's fast."

Natsu climbed out of the cliff, and Lucy's smile widened. "Natsu!"

"Hmm?" Natsu suddenly lunged forward, aiming a fierce kick…

To Lupa's face.

"Now there are even more monsters, huh?"

Lupa let out a yelp as she flew into the wall. She massaged the place where Natsu kicked her.

"Natsu, are you alrigh- AAH!" Happy screamed when she spotted Lupa, much to her bemusement. Lucy's eyes widened.

"Happy, whatever you do, don't call her a-"

"DOG!"

Lupa blinked blankly at Happy, and Lucy winced. For a long moment, Lupa could not find words. Then, in a tone deceptively devoid of anger, she said, "I'm going to kill him."

"LUPA, PLEASE, HAPPY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT A WOLF IS!"

Lupa frowned suspiciously at Natsu (who wasn't exactly happy about the death threat to his friend) and a confused Happy. "Is that true… Happy, was it?"

Happy tilted his head to the side. "I… heard of them? Are they a different breed of dog? Like Huskies or," Happy shuddered, "Chihuahuas?"

"... Oh, I am so sorry! I can't get angry if it's an honest mistake like that! Especially since you're so cute! But YOU!" Lupa suddenly whipped to head at Natsu, who started at her tone. "By the Great Celestial King, _what_ is your _problem_?!"

"LUCY!"

Sting ran in, decking the befuddled Vulcan in the face as he ran past it. He tackled Lucy and brought her into a fierce hug. "Don't ever do that again!"

"...That mark! How did I not notice it?! You guys finally joined Fairy Tail!"

Sting looked up. "Oh, hi Lupa!" Then he blinked. "Are you okay?"

Lupa tilted her head. "Yeah, why?"

"You, err, kind of have a… bruise?"

Lupa ran her fingers where Natsu had kicked her. Sure enough, the area was swelling with a dark shade of purple. She growled angrily at Natsu. "As soon as we finish up with this monkey, you and I are going to have _words_." He flinched at that.

She leaped up to her feet. Then she noticed something.

"Oi! Where's my knife?"

The ape, after recovering from the sucker punch, had picked up Lupa's knife. Lupa let out a furious howl. "Give that back, you darn, dirty _ape_!"

Lucy frowned. "I thought it was a monkey."

Sting shook his head. "Nah. That's an ape."

Natsu looked at both of them as if they'd gone mad. "It's a Vulcan."

Sting tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "Well, that's not _wrong_…"

Natsu growled angrily at the Vulcan, who was currently playing around with Lupa's knife. "Whatever it is, it makes me sicker than any train."

Lupa frowned. "Wait, what?! You get motion sick?"

Sting shook his head. "Only on vehicles. He's fine with Happy."

"So he gets sick on everything _except the cat_?!"

Natsu gave her a scandalized look. "Happy isn't a vehicle! He's a friend!"

Lupa sweatdropped. "Ah. My mistake."

Natsu got up, facing the group. "Listen! All members of Fairy Tail are friends, alright!"

The Vulcan started to charge at them, knife in hand.

"NATSU, LOOK OUT!" Lucy screamed.

Natsu kept on going as if he didn't hear her. "Including the old man, Mira…

That jerk Gray, and Elfman…"

"Yeah, that's great, buddy- _the Vulcan's coming_!" Lupa yelled at him, grabbing another knife.

"Happy, Sting, you, heck, even the wolf-girl! So…"

The Vulcan pounced, but Natsu was ready for him.

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT MACAO!" he roared, kicking the Vulcan away with a backflip. It went skidding between Lupa and Lucy, which made them step away.

It kicked up, exhaling out twin wisps of steam out of its nose. It lunged forward with Lupa's knife. Natsu barely caught it, keeping it from his chest. The Vulcan kept pushing, and Natsu ended up on the cave floor.

Natsu let out a fierce, angry snarl. The knife melted, and a single drop of molten metal fell into his mouth.

Which he promptly chewed and spat back at the Vulcan, making it let go.

"Gotcha. FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" The Vulcan flew into the wall, forming a crater. Natsu grinned, and Happy and Sting both let out cheers.

"You got him!" Sting cheered.

"Yep! Not bad, Pyro!" Lupa said, bruise temporarily forgotten. Natsu gave her a confused look.

"Excuse me?"

"Nevermind. Now, what about the other guy this guy might've kidnapped?"

"Oh, right!"

"Now it's out cold, though…" Lucy sighed.

"Well, now we gotta get ready to interrogate- oh."

The Vulcan began to glow, and burst apart, revealing a heavily injured man with purple hair.

Lupa let out an annoyed sigh. "Stupid take-over magic." She ran up to the man, and her eyes suddenly widened. "Get the first-aid kit."

Natsu immediately ran over, grabbing the kit from his backpack. "Is it that bad?"

"I can bandage up most of it, but what we have won't cut it for this wound over here. You're going to have to seal it."

"How?" Lucy asked, and she shrieked when Natsu placed a burning hand on the wound. Macao began to scream and writhe.

"Lucy, it's going to get a lot worse if he keeps squirming! Can the rest of you hold him down? I'll give him some painkillers."

"Right!" Sting said, and they held down Macao as Natsu finished sealing the wound. Lupa used a syringe to inject a clear liquid into him, and Macao visibly relaxed. Then, he spoke in a harsh, raspy voice. "I'm ashamed of myself… I managed to get nineteen of 'em, but the twentieth managed…"

"We get it! Stop talking, you'll reopen your wounds!" Natsu said, relieved.

"How… how am I supposed to face Romeo like this?"

Lupa rolled her eyes. "Yes, you defeated 19 monsters, 1 of which needed two dragon slayers, a celestial mage, and a cat to be beaten. I'm sure your son will be _sooo_ ashamed."

Macao blinked. "Er.. who are you?"

Sting gave him a wide smile. "The newest members of Fairy Tail! It's nice to meet you Mr. Conbolt, but you should really stop talking now. Your son's worried enough as it is."

Macao smiled at him. "Thank you."

/

_Hi Mom!_

_I know it's been a while, but it's been busy these last few days! Sting and I finally made it into Fairy Tail!_

_Sting is asking me to say hi for him. So, hi!_

_It's everything you said it would be- noisy, chaotic, incredibly dangerous._

_And home._

_I realized both Sting and I have a long way to go- one of the older wizards was able to beat NINETEEN Vulcans! NINETEEN! We had enough problems with just one!_

_I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Romeo's face when we came back with his dad. I only wish... well, it seems silly now. I don't think he'd ever be as excited to see us again._

_But don't worry about us, Mom. We're doing just fine. We managed to find a nice place for ourselves- only 70,000 J a month!_

_I miss you so much, but, being in Fairy Tail, It feels like you're a little less far away. I'm just starting my journey as a Fairy Tail wizard, but…_

_I already know I'm going to love this place!_

_Love,_

_Lucy_

* * *

Wow, that escalated quickly... seriously, I already got follows and favorites?! Thank you!

So, one thing on Lupa- technically, her constellation is called Lupus, but, as I'm pretty sure that Lupus is some sort of disease, I decided Lupa was the better option. Lupa is not going to be the only OC, just so you know. I already have around seven other new celestial spirits planned.

Also, I'm going to be updating a lot because it's summer vacation, so look forward to that!

Again, thank you so much for the favorites and follows! I definitely wasn't expecting that on the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed! Please review!

Edit- I realized I forgot to clarify a few things.

1\. There _are_ going to be OCs in the story. However, for the most part, they're only to help flesh out the Fairy Tail world. It's no Mythos, but I'm planning on expanding this universe. That said, the focus will remain on canon characters like Natsu and Sting.

2\. I'm overhauling Celestial Magic. It's ridiculously inbalanced- on one hand, the user gets access to an insane amount of varied magics. On the other, the _only_ spirits that seem to do anything are Golden Zodiac keys... and there are only 13 of them on earthland... 10 of which end up in Lucy's hands. Honestly, it makes Lucy both overpowered and underpowered, and I don't like it. I'll show you guys some more of what I have next time, but Lupa's just a preview of what's to come.

3\. I'm aware these characters are acting in ways they wouldn't necessarily act in canon- Lucy knowing about mountain weather for one. The way I see it, the very _premise_ of this story is a familial bond formed earlier on- and, regardless of who it is, an only child is going to act different from an older sister. The way I see it, Lucy being Sting's sister and Sting being Lucy's brother is going to change them. That said, I'll try to keep the basic spirit of canon characters.

4\. I still need a few beta-readers, so please let me know if you're interested. I get a bit crazy when I get a good idea, so a few sane voices would only help me.

So, again, thank you, and please review and favorite!


	3. Chapter 3- Daybreak- Part 1

Notes: Sorry- still don't own Fairy Tail. The OCs are mine, though. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

_Prisms- A Guide to Light_

Sting smiled. Between joining Fairy Tail, saving Macao, and finding a good place to live, Sting didn't get the time needed to read the book he bought from Hargeon. _And it looks good, too! I might get a lot stronger with this!_ While he might be able to pick up more on the Dragon Slayer half of his magic, the fact remained that Natsu was a fire mage, while he was a light mage. There were some things he'd have to learn on his own.

He opened the book, but before he could even read the first sentence, he heard a window break.

He groaned._ We literally just moved in. Why do I have to deal with these dumb robbers now?_ He placed the book onto the couch, and stalked to where the noise came from- Lucy's room.

"Natsu, are you sure this is the right place?"

"Well, yeah! Sting was pretty specific."

Sting's annoyance faded, and he opened the door.

Sure enough, Natsu and Happy were cheerfully sitting on Lucy's 'thinking couch'. Natsu gave Happy a vindicated smile. "See! Told you, Happy!"

"Aye! Hi, Sting!"

He gave them a grin. "You know, we have a door."

Natsu grinned back at him. "Where's the fun in that?"

Sting laughed at that. "I'll tell Lucy you guys are here."

"Wait, no!"

Sting frowned at Happy. "Why not?"

Natsu gave him a pout. "It was supposed to be a surprise."

Sting sighed. "Lucy'd appreciate it a bit more if she knew to wear something other than a towel." He called out down the hall, ignoring their protests. "Lucy! We have guests!"

"What, already? Tell them to wait in the living room- and make sure they're facing away from the hall!"

"No problem!" Then, he turned to the two invaders. "There! She doesn't know who you are, so it'll still be a surprise!"

Natsu let out an unhappy sigh. "It's not the same."

/

"You know, you guys came at a bit of a bad time. We barely had time to unpack! There's really not much to do here, but make yourself at home anyway."

Natsu shrugged, happily slurping the tea. "Hey, you can introduce us to all your key-guys! It'd be nice for us to know each other before a fight!"

Sting laughed at him from his seat on the couch (he had to shove Natsu and Happy off- which wasn't exactly easy). "What, learned your lesson with Lupa?"

Happy shuddered. "I know wolves aren't dogs, but they're still pretty scary." Natsu nodded in agreement, wincing at the memory. The second they returned Macao home, Lupa had punched him hard and almost deafened him with an angry rant about common sense and looking before punching.

Lucy groaned. "They're Celestial Spirits, not 'key-guys'. Plus, I'd lose too much of my magic." Sting looked at her, and they appeared to have a silent discussion, with Sting gesturing to Natsu and Happy repeatedly, and Lucy shaking her head. Eventually, she sighed.

"Fine. I can show you their _keys_. I'm _not_ summoning them."

Natsu shrugged, and Happy smiled.

Lucy pulled out her pouch, and laid out seven keys- bronze, silver, and gold- and began to lecture. "There are three- actually, four- types of celestial spirits." She gestured to her one gold key, which Happy recognized.

"Oh, the fish lady!"

Sting shuddered. "Don't let her hear you call her that. It won't end well."

Lucy shuddered as well. "Yeah, this is Aquarius. She's easily my most powerful spirit, but I can only summon her in a large body of water. All of the Golden Zodiac are equally strong, but there are only 12 of them, though there are rumors of a 13th." Happy's eyes widened, and Natsu began to bounce his legs out of excitement.

Lucy leaned back, thoughtful. "The only other spirits that come close to their power are the Obsidian Spirits. There's only _five_ of them, so they're kind of the stuff of legends among Celestial Wizards. I don't have any Obsidian keys, but I heard they're supposed to be a lot rougher around the edges compared to the Zodiac. Heck, they say that Obsidian Celestial mages were actually believed to be witches making deals with the devil."

Then, Lucy gestured to her silver keys. "The silver keys are a lot less rare, but a bit weaker. Still they tend to be used more often, since take up less magic." She lifted Lupa's key. "You already met Lupa." Then, she pointed to a key with long ears at the head, a symbol of a tiny tail, and a rifle end for the tail. "This is Lynceus the Lynx- he's my sniper."

Happy tilted his head. "What's a lynx?", he asked.

Sting smiled at him. "A lynx is a big cat- not as big as a lion, but still pretty cool."

Happy's eyes widened, and he gave Sting an excited smile. "So I'll be a Lynx when I get big?" Lucy face palmed.

"They also have really short tails, so you can't be a lynx without doing something about that tail of yours," Sting pointed out. Happy's excitement shifted to horror, and he hugged his tail close. Natsu patted him comfortingly on the head.

"Don't worry, buddy- there are tons of other big cats for you to be!"

Happy nodded, still a little dejected. "Aye."

Lucy then pointed to another silver key with a bow shaped symbol, and an arrow head for an end. "This is Orion the Hunter. He's not much for fighting, but he can recognize any form of magic, and he's a heck of a strategist." Finally, she lifted up a key with a clock-symbol, end shaped like a clock-hand. "Horologium the Clock. He's not a fighter, either, but he can defend me from most physical and magical attacks."

Lucy pointed to her last two bronze keys. "Bronze keys are very, very common- in fact, there are some who say that forming contracts with them doesn't make you a celestial wizard." Lucy made a face at that, and Sting sighed, quietly hoping she would limit her ranting. They didn't have all day. "That is _stupid_. These guys aren't strong, but they are still celestial spirits, just like the gold and silver ones." She pointed to one with a harp on it. "This is Lyra the Harp. She is a _fantastic_ singer- and music is a _powerful_ form of magic in it's own right. And- Oh!"

Natsu tilted his head. "What is it?"

"I never made a contract with Nikora, the little dog! I'll make one now!" She grabbed the key, which had what looked like a snowman head on top.

Natsu's and Happy's eyes gleamed. Sting sighed, hoping they didn't get their hopes _too_ high. "It's nothing flashy-" Lucy gave him a fierce glare. "-but it is still important!", he quickly added. Natsu snickered, and Sting glared at him.

"So, well, just watch!" She pointed her key forward, and a heavenly glow began to shine around her. "I call upon the keeper of the Gate of Canis Minor. Come forth- Nikora!"

A large blast of bronze light burst forth, and Sting instinctively shut his eyes against it. When he opened them…

"Puuun~"

All three boys felt their jaws drop. Lucy smiled, proud. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Cool was not the word Sting would use.

The Nikora was a small, snow white… thing. He was bipedal, like Happy, but his head looked like that of a snowman rather than that of a dog.

Also, he started to quiver, as if it were cold. The apartment was perfectly warm- if anything, it was a bit too warm.

"I- I'm sure you'll do better next time," Natsu stammered, trying to placate her. Happy nodded. "A- Aye."

"This isn't a mistake!" Lucy protested waving her fist at them with the… dog mimicking her movements. "Like I said, these guys aren't meant to be tough."

Sting gave the snowman spirit a puzzled look. "Still… is he _really_ a dog?"

Lucy glared at him. "Is Lupa _really_ a wolf?"

Sting thought about it, then shrugged. "Yeah, that's fair."

The Nikora clambered up into Lucy's arms.

"Okay. So, let's go over the contract, okay?" She pulled out a notepad.

"Pu-Puun!"

"How's Monday?" he shook his head with another "Puun!"

"Tuesday?"

"Pu-pun!" he nodded this time.

She continued to cycle through the days, with the Nikora nodding his head for yes and shaking it for no.

"It's a bit mundane, huh?", Natsu commented.

"Aye."

Sting smiled at them, his arms behind his head as he leaned back onto the couch. "Like I said- not very flashy. But it's still pretty important."

"That's right! To a celestial mage, the contract- the _promise_\- is one of the most important things. You can be sure that I will never, ever break a promise!"

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"

"That's right! Now, I need to give him a name."

"Isn't it Nikora?" Happy asked, shaking hands (paws?) with said Nikora.

Sting shook his head. "That's his species."

Lucy thought for a moment, then smiled. "Come here, Plue!"

"Puun!" The Nikora hopped to her on all fours, and leaped into her arms.

Natsu tilted his head. "Plue?"

Sting groaned, clapping a hand to his forehead. "What does that even _mean_?"

Lucy grinned, hugging Plue. "I just think it sounds cute! Right, Plue?"

"Puun!"

Sting muttered something vague about girls and asinine names.

Then, Plue hopped out of her arms, and walked up to Natsu. He began to shake his arms violently, as if he were dancing, and then circled his arms above his head.

Lucy sweat-dropped. "O- Okay?"

Natsu suddenly knelt down in front of Plue. "Plue! I have to agree with you!"

Lucy's jaw dropped. "You can understand him?"

Sting nodded. "I mean, it's pretty self explanatory," he said, looking at her as if _she_ was the weird one.

"NO IT ISN'T!", she yelled.

Natsu got up, suddenly serious. "Celestial spirits, huh? The wolf-lady _did_ save Macao's life. And, really, neither you or Sting had to go in the first place. Lucy might be a weirdo, but you're both trustworthy and good people."

_I- I'm weird?, _Lucy thought. Then, Natsu gave them both a wide grin.

"So, it's settled! You both are joining our team!"

Sting's eyes widened and sparkled with excitement. Lucy had no doubt what his thoughts on the matter were. "A team?", they asked as one.

Happy nodded. "Aye! Even though everybody in the guild is allied to one another, some members that get along really well get together and form teams within the guild. That way, jobs that may be too hard for one person to take can get done by a team!"

"That sounds _awesome!",_ Sting cheered. Then he turned to his sister, who could practically see stars glimmer in his eyes. "Can we? _Please?_"

Lucy smiled as well. Who was she to deny her brother of his hopes and dreams? "Let's do it!", she decided.

Natsu high-fived her. "So, you're gonna work with us?"

Lucy smiled, and said the magic words- "That's a promise!"

Sting let out happy laugh. "Heck yeah!"

Suddenly, Natsu's grin turned mischievous. Sting gave a confused look at his sudden mood shift. "And we already got a job!"

"Oh, wow, that was quick!" Lucy commented. The look on Natsu's face screamed danger, and Sting began to eye him warily shuffling away from him.

"So it's in Shirotsume, huh? … Now way! _200,000 J _just for taking a book from some rich guy named Duke Everlue?"

"That's a pretty nice reward." Sting commented. He gave Natsu a suspicious glare. The older boy's grin was only getting wider, and he started to resemble a shark far more than he did a dragon.

"Should be a piece of cake, right?", Natsu asked in a strange, gumdrop-sweet voice that did nothing for Sting's growing paranoia.

"'Please note: Everlu's a dirty old man who's currently looking for maids... with... blonde... hair...". She blinked, and re-read the flier to be sure.

Sting blinked and Lucy stared at the flier as they both connected the dots. For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, they were both at a loss for words.

"We know a blonde-haired girl, don't we?" Natsu asked Happy, voice still cheery.

"Yup, and I bet we can find her a maid's uniform," Happy said, smug like a cat who ate the canary.

Sting started having a quiet, giggling fit, which quickly devolved into hyena-worthy cackling.

"You sneaky little... THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Lucy wailed.

Natsu gave her an unapologetic smirk. "You'll never ever break a promise, huh? Looks like you're stuck with us, then!" Happy and Plue (the little traitor) high-fived.

"BUT YOU TRICKED ME!", she screamed.

Sting managed to stop long enough to wheeze out- "That's no way to talk to your master!"- before his cackling redoubled.

Lucy let out an incoherent scream.

/

"Excuse me! Is anybody in there?"

Sting smirked. This is a pretty easy job, especially for_ two million_ jewel!

"You can do it, Lucy!" Natsu cheered. Even if he _was_ joking about the maid plan (something Sting _still_ wasn't sure was true), they were willing enough to give it a shot anyway.

Suddenly, the earth next to Lucy began to bulge. Sting tensed, and Natsu had to put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not dangerous," he whispered reassuringly.

"How can you tell?" Sting whispered back.

Natsu smirked. "Instinct." Then a huge, pink-haired, gorilla-shaped... woman in a maid burst out of the ground.

Natsu blinked. "Though, it's not always reliable." Happy whimpered at the sight. Sting started to seriously doubt the plan.

"You want to be a maid?", the gorilla-lady asked.

Then, the Duke himself leapt out of the ground. He wore a tuxedo with a red rose in one of the pockets, a white and blue tie, and a large yellow button on top of his stomach. He had a fake looking head of light brown hair, and his mustache seemed to grow directly out of his nose. _How is that even possible?_, Sting wondered off-handedly.

"Bo yo yo yo yoooo! Were you calling me?"

He sized Lucy up. "Nope! Don't want you! Go home, ugly!" Lucy flinched as if he punched her in the gut. Sting felt both his eyebrows raise. _Ah. That's not gonna end well._

"You heard him. Now go away, Ugly!" The pink-haired maid lifted her up by the shirt.

"Eh…?", Lucy managed to get out.

"You see, for such a very, very, very, very, very important man like me…"

Four new maids popped out- each more terrifying than the last.

"... only the most beautiful young ladies will do!"

The maids were mind melting-ly, reality warping-ly hideous. While Sting tried not to judge based on appearances, they were _seriously_ pushing his non-judgemental limits.

Natsu looked as if he was going to vomit. Sting felt his eyes start to water as he held Happy's paws, trying to stop the cat from clawing his own eyeballs out.

"... What _are_ they?" Natsu muttered in horror. Sting had to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming. Happy gave up scratching (because it was too late, their images were forever branded into his brain) and began to cry.

/

Lucy had changed back into her regular clothes, and was currently sobbing with her head in her knees. Sting was sitting down next to her, staring at nothing, stiff as a doll. Happy was still wailing like it was the end of the world and everything in it. Natsu continued to give the mansion a thoroughly befuddled look until he finally spoke-

"Well, that didn't work."

Sting gave him a glare, as if thinking _You don't say_? Lucy began to sob even harder. Happy, however, dried his tears and gave the mansion a determined glare. "Plan T?"

Natsu nodded, a grin forming on his face. "Plan T."

Sting shook his head like a wet dog, forcing himself to reality. "Plan T?" Lucy looked up, tears still streaming down her face.

Natsu smirked. "Take 'em by storm!"

Lucy glared at him, wiping the tears from her eyes. "No."

Natsu blinked at her, the word not computing. "No?"

"He might be a perverted, _disgusting_…" she stopped and took a few breaths to calm herself. "...Old man, but he isn't a regular bad guy. We'll be breaking all sorts of laws."

Happy gave her a confused look. "But, what about the mission?"

"Oh, we're still going through with it. We're just through with it _smarter_."

Sting grinned, eyes glinting. "Orion?"

"Orion."

Natsu blinked, trying to recall which spirit that was. "The… strategy one, right?"

Lucy smiled, walking forward until she was directly facing the mansion.

"Yep. He'll let us do this the smart way." She pulled out Orion's key.

Natsu groaned as he walked up to her, Sting and Happy walking after him. "But sieging it will be more _fun_!"

Lucy did her best to ignore him. She turned away from him, nose in the air. "Open! Gate of the Hunter- Orion!"

A silvery light gathered where she slashed the key, solidifying into a man who looked like he was in his early 20s. He had short, dark brown hair, a red leather jacket, dark denim pants, black boots, and a white shirt, with a belt holding a crossbow. The strange thing about him, though, was that he was wearing a large pair of what looked like bright red skiing goggles, which glowed with multiple numbers and letters too small for Natsu to read. He gave the two siblings a happy smile with a salute.

"Congratulations, Lucy, Mr. Eucliffe! Lupa tells me you finally made it into Fairy Tail!"

Sting gave him a cheerful smile. "Yep! And we made a team, too! This is Natsu, and that's Happy!"

"Ah!" He turned and bowed to both Natsu and Happy. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, Mr. Dragneel, Happy."

Natsu frowned and gave Orion a wary look. "He didn't tell you my last name."

Sting turned to Natsu with an apologetic smile on his lips. "Orion can find out everything about a person- full name, magic type and mastery level, even the last person they contacted- just by looking at them or being told about them." His smile dropped as he sighed in annoyance, eyes rolling skyward. "He also insists an calling anyone not named Lucy by last name… and even _she_ had to deal with it until a couple of months ago."

"Apologies, Mr. Eucliffe. It is simply against my nature to be so casual with others. And- are you a Dragon Slayer as well, Mr. Dragneel?"

Natsu tilted his head to the side. "Um. Yes?"

Even with the goggles on, it was clear Orion's eyes were practically glowing with excitement. "Oh, wow!" Natsu noticed he had completely abandoned his formal tone. "Please, you have to tell me more about it!"

Lucy cleared her throat. "Later, Orion. Right now we need a way to break into Everlue's mansion and steal a book named Daybreak."

"_Eliezer Everlue._" Suddenly, Orion's voice became stiff, almost monotone. Natsu began to wonder if _this_ is what a multiple personality disorder sounded like. "_Rank: Duke. Magic: Diver, Celestial. Assets- Virgo, Golden Zodiac Maiden Spirit, four diver mages, and two mercenaries from Southern Wolf guild, specialized in anit-elemental magic and teamwork. Daybreak: Unavailable to general public. Author,_ unknown. Description: Golden cover decorated with an image of a sunset, with black lettering." And just like that, Orion's voice shifted back into his normal voice. Natsu's head started to spin, as if he were on a speeding train.

"Unfortunately, there is no way of entering without attracting their attention. The best option is to enter from the western fifth floor window, as it is not attached to the alarm system. It is located across the hall from the library, the most probable location of Daybreak."

"Thank you, Orion," Lucy said, holding up her key and swiping the air in front of Orion again. He began to glow silver and fade away.

"Not at all!", he said with another salute before disappearing completely. Happy blinked at the air where Orion had been standing, as if trying to find out if he was hallucinating or not.

Sting smirked at them. "He's an experience, huh?"

Happy gave Sting a befuddled look. "Are _all_ celestial spirits weird and/or scary?"

Lucy sighed, long resigned to the fact. "Pretty much."

Natsu shook his head, and frowned at the mansion. "The window, huh…."

/

"... and we are going to avoid violence when we can," Lucy finished as Happy dropped her. Sting and Natsu had both managed to climb up using the vines that were growing down the wall.

"But-" Sting started.

"No buts! I am _not_ dealing with any more law-breaking than absolutely necessary." Lucy put her hands on her hips.

Natsu made a face as he melted the window with his hand. Lucy glared at him, and smacked him upside the head. He simply rolled his eyes. "Oh, _fiiinnneee-_ you filthy hypocrite." He pouted. "I thought you wanted revenge," he grumbled as they climbed into what looked like a cross between an attic, museum, and an armory.

Lucy let out a soft hiss. "Oh, I'm getting revenge," she said, an evil glint in her eye. "I'm taking _all_ his toothbrushes and using them to clean _all_ the toilets."

Both Sting and Natsu shuddered.

"Sis, that's gross. _You're_ gross."

Natsu leaned away from her. "Remind me to never piss you off."

Lucy gave him the sort of smile Natsu had only ever seen in serial killers. "Too late for thaat~" she said in a disturbing, sing-song voice. Natsu's eyes widened in horror, and Sting gave him a look that screamed _I am _so_ glad I'm not you._ Natsu let out an un-dragonly whimper.

"Hey, guys, look at this! _Rawr!_", Happy cried out.

Sting's eyes lit up. Happy was wearing an _awesome_ looking skull mask. "Wow! That looks _creepy_!"

Natsu grinned as he nodded. "You're looking fierce, Happy!"

Lucy sighed. "Can you guys keep it down? We need to get to the library. It should be across the hall."

Natsu let out an annoyed sigh. "It'd be _faster_ if we just burned the place down. We wouldn't even _need_ to look for the book."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Look, the point is to not be seen."

Sting's eyes began to sparkle again. "Like ninja!"

That caught Natsu's and Happy's interest. Natsu began to _drool_ with a strange look on his face. "Like _real_ ninja?"

Lucy sweat-dropped. "Do I even _want_ to know what you're thinking?"

Suddenly, the ground behind them began to bulge. Sting noticed and pushed Lucy behind him. He almost regretted it when the nightmare-maids burst out.

"Intruder alert, Virgo!", they cried.

"Let's crush 'em, girls!", said the gorilla-maid... _Wait, Virgo?_ Lucy went pale in realization. "We're toast!", she panicked.

Sting agreed, but didn't say anything. He was busy trying to breathe deeply in and out, in an attempt to keep his food in his stomach where it _belonged._

"RAAAAA!" Happy yelled at the maids, trying to scare them.

Somehow, this worked. They screamed in fear- "It's a monster!"

"Ninja power!", Natsu yelled, and he punched the distracted... girls... with a fiery punch. Virgo launched herself upward.

"Flying Virgo attack!". She fell towards Lucy, who's pupils shank into pinpricks.

"Not on my watch!", Sting roared. He rushed forward, his fist glowing with white light. "WHITE DRAGON'S HOLY FIST!" He leapt up and punched Virgo in the back, sending her flying into the ground below. He flipped forward once to right himself before landing next to Lucy. He smirked over the railing at the crater Virgo formed. "_That_ was for the nightmares."

Natsu nodded vehemently in agreement to where the other four maids landed.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at them. "You didn't fall asleep yet. You couldn't _possibly_ have a nightmare yet."

Happy shuddered as he took off the skull mask. "_Yet_."

"...Fair enough," Lucy conceded.

Natsu hastily wrapped his scarf around his face, and gave them a serious (well, as serious as one can get with a scarf around their face) glare. He positioned his arms as if he were a spy preparing for a gunfight. Except with finger-guns. "We must not be spotted! For we are ninja!"

"Ninja!" Happy and Sting repeated, adopting similar positions (though Sting couldn't quite keep the grin off of his face).

Lucy groaned. "Ninjas are supposed to be quiet, you know."

They opened the door in front of them, revealing a room with bookcases that almost reached the ceilings and lined the entire walls.

"Whoa, there are many books in this library." Natsu said, still in his ninja voice.

"Aye, there are, indeed," Happy said in an acceptable imitation of Natsu's ninja voice.

"Who would have thought that Everlue's a major bookworm?" Lucy wondered aloud.

Sting ran up to one of the shelves. "Holy _crap_, this guy has a lot of science books!" His eyes glowed, and he yanked out a book at random, upsetting a cloud of dust. He sneezed, which made Natsu and Happy turn to him.

"...Sting, a ninja doesn't sneeze like a kitten," Natsu lectured, unable to maintain his ninja voice at the _adorable_ noise. Sting felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment as he put the book back.

"...These books aren't very well-used," Sting commented. The other books had a new-book scent- even though Sting knew for fact that some of the books couldn't possibly be new. An idea came into his head, and he looked hopefully at Lucy. "Sis, can we take some?"

Lucy sighed. "We're only here for Daybreak, Sting. We're breaking enough laws as it is."

"But, _sis_, it's not like he actually _reads_ these things!"

"_No,_ Sting, we can get them at Magnolia."

He slumped down in defeat. "Awww..."

Natsu smiled. "Let's start looking!", he cheered.

"Aye, sir!"

/

Lucy groaned, putting a book back as she balanced on her ladder. "How are we ever gonna find one stupid book in this place?"

"_Ooh,_ this one has lots of pictures!" Natsu commented, holding up a random book.

"Hey, a book on the solar system!" Sting cheerfully opened the book. He read a sentence, and all the joy drained out of him. He glared at the book like it murdered his firstborn. "...it says Pluto isn't a planet. Can we burn this one too?"

"No, Sting. Go look for Daybreak."

"_Fiiiinnnne_," he groaned, shoving the book back with an unnecessary amount of force.

"Look, a book on fish!" Happy said.

"Check this one, it's sparkly!" Natsu yelled. Happy laughed cheerily, and Sting walked over to them, curious.

Lucy glared down at them. "Hey, would you guys get serious and-"

"Oh, hey, it's Daybreak!" Sting interrupted, surprised.

Natsu tilted his head. "It is?" He looked at the cover, which matched Orion's description. So it was.

"Yeah, honestly, that was almost too- _oh, crap._" Sting's eyes widened when he read the byline. "Natsu, _quick_, burn it before Lucy sees-"

"Hey, we don't have to burn it here- hold on a second, it was written by Kemu Zaleon?!". Lucy squealed like a fangirl and snatched the book out of Natsu's hands. Sting held his face in his hands. _So much for the mission._

"Zale-what?", Natsu asked, clearly confused.

"He was a great wizard and an amazing novelist. I'm such a big fan! I thought I'd already read every sentence he'd ever written, but this must be an unpublished novel!" Lucy hugged the book close to her chest.

Sting quickly snatched the novel from her (under Lucy's protests), and opened up to the first page. "Yeah, and unedited too. I can see six different errors already."

"What, in the first page?" Happy asked, using his Aera to get a better look.

Sting shook his head, holding the book away from him as if it were radioactive. "No. _The first sentence._" He gave the book a disgusted glare. "I can see why Mr. Melon would want it destroyed."

"Well, all the more reason to burn it, right?" Natsu asked, hand already alight. Lucy screamed and took the book back from Sting, holding it protectively.

"Oh, boy, here we go," Sting mumbled to himself.

"Stay away from it, pyro!"

"But what about our mission?" Happy asked, strangely serious.

"Just forget about the stupid mission."

Sting let out an annoyed growl. "Sis, 2 million jewels or that _sin_ against literature?"

"..."

"LUCY!" Sting snapped.

"I'M THINKING!"

Natsu began to walk threateningly up to Lucy, fire blazing in both hands. Lucy started to become desperate as she backed away. "Come on, you guys, let's just _say_ we burned it. I'll keep it a secret, I swear!"

"I'm not a liar," Natsu growled.

"Aye."

Sting couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, _fine!_" He stood between the three, palms facing both sides in the universal _stop_ gesture. "We're not gonna burn it _here_."

Natsu glared at Sting. "Sting, this is our _job._"

Sting stared back right into his eyes. "Mr. Melon wants us to destroy it, but he didn't say where or when. So let's find our way out, let Lucy read it, and _then_ consign it to the fires of hell where it belongs."

Lucy suddenly sat down. "Well, I better get started reading it, then!" Sure enough, she quickly opened the book and began to read, presumably ignoring the god-awful grammar.

Sting gave her a frown. "I said first we should get-". He let out a resigned groan, hands covering his eyes. "-you know what, do whatever. I don't care anymore."

Natsu stared at them with an unreadable look on his face, then sighed. "Fine. But _I _get to destroy it."

Sting pouted, though his posture visibly relaxed. "But it _scarred_ me. _I_ wanna kill it."

Natsu felt his eye twitch. "...How?!"

Happy frowned at Natsu. "How did bad writing scar him or how can he kill a book?"

Natsu let out a frustrated yell, hands pulling at his hair. "BOTH!"

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Everlue burst out of the ground in front of them. Natsu and Sting instinctively shifted into battle stances.

"So you thieves are looking to pilfer Daybreak from me, are you? Boyoyo."

Sting gave Lucy a flat look. "Your fault." Lucy pretended not to hear him. She began to frown, leaning into the book like it was a tv-show on the brink of a plot twist.

Happy gave Everlue a flabbergasted look. "Wouldn't it be easier to come through the door?"

Everlue pressed on with his monologue. "I knew all you lowlife wizard types were coming around here to take something of mine. I never would have guessed it was _that_ stupid book.

Natsu gave Lucy a frustrated look and waved a hand at Everlue. "See, even _he_ thinks it's stupid." Lucy continued to ignore the entire world, completely absorbed.

Sting sighed, looking at the ceiling. "Forget it, she's in Daybreak-land now- though why she'd _want_ to go there is still beyond me." In fact, Lucy hadn't even changed positions. Sting was sure she didn't even notice Everlue until she finally spoke back to him.

"This works out great! If it's so stupid, I guess it's fine if we take it."

"IT'S MINE! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT, SO GET YOUR GRUBBY HANDS OFF!", Everlue said, jumping up and down like a spoiled brat. Lucy didn't even look up from the book.

"Greedy gut."

"Shut your trap, ugly," he retorted, picking his nose. Lucy ignored him, but started to frown even more at the book.

Sting snapped. He was done with the stupid mansion, the stupid book, and the _stupid insults. _"Stop calling my sister 'ugly', you demented, overweight, book-hoarding _whale!_" That last insult impaled Everlue's pride, much like his had impaled Lucy's.

Everlue glared at them. "I've had enough-"

"_You've_ had enough?!" Sting yelled, disbelieving. His fists began to glow brightly. Natsu let his flames lick his arms as he stood behind Sting. Everlue continued speaking as if Sting hadn't spoken.

"How dare you put your filthy hands on my possessions. Now, come forth, Vanish Brothers!"

The bookcases lining the walls to their right shifted aside, revealing two men. One looked like a monk (in clothing and appearance) with foreign symbols on his cheeks, forehead, and chin. He was bald except for a long braided pony tail, and he held a large frying pan strapped to his back as if it were a sword. The other was almost twice as tall, with a large nose, _incredibly _spiky dark-blue hair, and an orange headband. He had on white-denim pants and a blue and yellow shirt. Both brothers had a black and white symbol that Sting recognized from his days as a freelance wizard. His eyes narrowed.

"You called upon us, sir?" The monk-like brother asked.

"Can you believe that these little punks are from the Fairy Tail guild?" The taller one asked. "Talk about a bunch of runts."

Sting grit his teeth. "Southern Wolves," he muttered. Natsu raised an eyebrow at them, and Happy's eyes widened.

"The mercenary guild?", Happy asked.

Sting snapped out of his anger, realizing something. "Wait, aren't _we_ mercenaries?"

Natsu opened his mouth, and then closed it. He gave the brothers a thoughtful look. "...well, they're non-magic mercenaries."

Sting shrugged, glaring at the men again. "True enough. You guys bodyguards?"

Everlue let out another weird laugh. "The Southern Wolves are always hungry for fresh game. Say your prayers, thieves!"

Sting hissed at them, and he stepped forward, fists up. "Bring it."

Lucy's eyes hardened. She got up and faced Natsu. "Hey, try and hold them off for a while. I'm not sure, but I think this book hold some kind of secret."

Natsu nodded. "Right." He still seemed a little confused. Lucy rushed out the door, shutting it behind her.

Everlue frowned. _A secret? It must have slipped by me somehow. It could be a treasure map or something. _Dust began to blow away from him as he channeled his magic. Then, aloud, he spoke to the Vanish brothers. "I'm going after the girl." He sank through the floor. "Make sure pink hair and blondie don't make it out in one piece."

"Yes, sir," both of them said.

Sting's eyes widened. _If I stay here, sis will be in danger! But if I leave..._ Sting was torn. He was saved from his dilemma when Natsu turned to him and Happy. "You guys go on and help Lucy."

Sting frowned. "You sure? These guys don't have magic, but they're still experienced."

Natsu grit his teeth and began to stretch his arms. "No. Thanks, but I'll be just fine."

Sting nodded and rushed out the door, with Happy flying after him. The taller one lunged toward him, but Sting was too fast. He kicked the larger man away, and made it out the door. He rushed after Lucy with Happy at his back. The tall one grit his teeth, but his brother shook his head.

"We'll catch up to him after dealing with this one."

Natsu smirked. "You can try."

They didn't stand a chance.

\\\

Lucy sighed as she took off her wind-reader glasses. "I knew this book held some sort of secret."

Suddenly, two hands broke through the wall she was leaning on, grabbing her arms and yanking them back. Everlue's head burst out and sneered at her.

"Well, then, please share! Secrets don't make friend, you know."

"No way!", she yelled. "A man like you doesn't deserve to know what it is. You're an enemy of literature!"

* * *

So yeah, I made a new system of Celestial Spirits. I won't say _what_ the Obsidian spirits are based on just yet- but I will clarify a few things.

1\. Ophiuchus the snake is a Golden Key- albeit a rumored one. I couldn't exactly keep his key black with the Obsidian spirits, and there's no real reason why he _couldn't_ be the 13th zodiac spirit. He hasn't been downgraded, though- rather, the entire set of Golden keys have been upgraded.

2\. On paper, it might seem I made Lucy weaker- after all, I did take away two of her golden keys. The truth is Lucy is as powerful as she was in the beginning of the canon story- she just has a _lot_ more power she can gain. The silver keys that replace Cancer and Taurus (Lynceus and Lupa) are about as powerful as the original Golden keys. Even Orion (who replaces Crux, by the way) is made a bit more powerful than his original counterpart- his knowledge expands from Celestial spirit magic to _all_ magic.

Oh, yeah- the reason Orion didn't know who Daybreak's author was is because the book was unpublished and one of a kind.

3\. In the original anime/manga, Lucy is basically a Pokemon trainer who helps out her Pokemon from time to time. I won't specify anything, but the new keys aren't the only thing I changed about Celestial spirits.

Finally, I made Sting a bit of a science/math geek. Part of this is to show off correlations between science and magic- for example, how much energy (in Joules) does it take Laxus to turn into lightning? The other reason is that the original Sting was more or less Natsu's dark counterpart who becomes good. That was... tolerable when he was a minor character, but Sting is going to be a _main_ character I can't afford to write him as a pure Natsu clone.

Sorry about the abrupt ending- this was _supposed_ to be the entire Daybreak arc, but the chapter got too long. I'll post the second part soon! Until then, favorite and review please!


	4. Chapter 4- Daybreak- Part 2

I'm back! Still don't own Fairy Tail though... but the OCs are mine! Please- Favorite, Review, and Enjoy!

* * *

"Enemy of literature? My massive collection of books and art only prove I'm culture's greatest friend!" Everlue's grip on Lucy's arms tightened.

"But that ugly collection proves you don't know squat about beauty!" Lucy squirmed, trying to escape.

"How dare you mock them, they are the very definition of beauty!" He wrenched at Lucy's arms, forcing her to bend down. He gave Daybreak a greedy leer. "What secret does it hold? Let me guess, he buried his fortune and there's a treasure map hidden inside. Tell me, or I'll snap your arm like a toothpick!" Lucy grit her teeth at the pain, but still managed to stick her tongue out at Everlue and blow a raspberry.

Everlue glared angrily at her and shoved her to the floor. "Now is not the time to get sassy. Listen, I myself commissioned this book's very creation. Therefore, any secret it holds is rightfully my property!"

Suddenly, a blond and blue blur flew forward and punched Everlue in the face. Happy let go of Sting, who rolled up into a battle stance, a furious glare on his face. "Stay away from my sister," he hissed.

Lucy smiled. "Sting! Happy! That was so cool!"

At that exact second, Happy's Aera wore off, and he tumbled into the brown, sludgy river. Lucy sweat-dropped. "And that wasn't..."

"Hey!" Sting protested, turning away from Everlue (who was still shocked that Happy could fly). "I'm still cool!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Not after that, you aren't."

Sting stuck his tongue out at her, then turned to Happy. "...aren't you going to come out?"

"But the water feels good!", Happy burbled. Lucy face palmed as Sting gave Happy a look somewhere between horrified and disgusted.

"But that's- that's sewage, Happy."

Lucy smirked at Everlue, and pulled out a silver key- Lynceus the Lynx- and pointed it at him like a sword. "Looks like the tables have turned. But if you let me keep the book, I'll think about going easy on you."

"I won't," Sting hissed, letting his fists glow with white light.

Everlue's eyes narrowed. "Oh? A celestial and a light wizard. But for a reader, you seem to be a bit deficient in your turns of phrase. The tables have turned implies that the weaker party has rallied to claim victory. But there's no way you, the blond brat, and that cat could ever defeat me and my Diver magic!" He let out another weird laugh. A gold magic circle appeared behind him, and he drilled underneath the ground.

Sting moved so that his back was facing Lucy's, looking at the ceiling warily. Happy got out of the river and (to both the siblings' disgust) shook out the water out of his fur.

"Orion said he has Diver magic and celestial magic, right?" Happy asked. Sting nodded, still wary.

Everlue burst out of the ground and ceiling, hands grasping for Daybreak. The trio managed to dodge the attacks. Sting grit his teeth. _Come on, you're a dragon slayer, Sting! This guy should be nothing!_ Sting began to scan the walls, trying to find a pattern. Lucy looked up, and began to speak.

"Look, I know the whole story now. It's a horrible adventure novel about a trashy little character named Duke Everlue!"

Sting and Happy both gave Lucy incredulous stares. "You serious?" Happy said.

Everlue's voice echoed throughout the hall. "I don't know that I'd call the protagonist trashy, but yes, the story itself is crap! And to think it was written by the great Kemu Zaleon." Loud crashing noises echoed throughout the ceiling as Everlue launched himself in between walls before them. Sting closed his eyes. _Don't look. Just listen..._ A soft, cracking noise came from behind them, and Sting whirled around. _There!_

"_Inexcusable_!" Everlue yelled as he pounced from the ground, but Sting was ready for him. "WHITE DRAGON'S ROAR!" He launched a tornado of white energy at Everlue, sending him flying backwards. Everlue dug back into the wall. _Crap_. Sting grit his teeth.

"I can't believe your arrogance. You forced him to write it!", Lucy yelled at the hole.

"Arrogant, moi? The word doesn't _begin_ to apply!" Rocks began to fall from the ceiling. Lucy's eyes widened in horror. _He's gonna bring the place down!_ "To tell my story is an honor, no matter what the circumstances."

"Then why'd you have to blackmail him into it?", Lucy challenged.

"Blackmail?" Happy asked.

"What's the big deal?" Everlue asked, suddenly popping up behind them. Sting glared at him. "WHITE DRAGON'S-". Before he could finish the roar spell, Everlue disappeared again, to Sting's growing frustration. _I can't tear down the walls to force him out- the place is already falling apart!_ Everlue's voice echoed throughout the room again, with the drilling noises intensifying.

"He just needed some extra encouragement to take the job."

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Oh, really?", she asked, skepticism dripping from her voice. Everlue's strange laugh echoed through the sewer.

"Any fool would have jumped at the chance to have me as their muse. But he had the audacity to say no. So, I gave him the added inspiration in form of an ultimatum. Write the novel, or his family would be stripped of their citizenship." Sting snapped out of his focus at that.

"You sick...! They wouldn't be able to work at any of the guilds without their citizenships!"

"Do you really have the power to do that?," Happy asked, scared.

The ground beneath them began to crack. "I have the power to do _anything_!" Everlue leapt out of the ground, forcing Lucy and Happy to jump back.

Sting, however, flipped up, and encased his right fist with light. "WHITE DRAGON'S HOLY FIST!" He lunged toward Everlue, but he went back underground just as Sting landed. A large crater formed where Sting missed.

Sting snarled in frustration. "Are you gonna keep burrowing around, or are you gonna stand still and _fight_? I'm _done_ playing Whack-a-Mole with you!" Everlue let out another, taunting laugh, which made Sting even angrier.

Lucy glared at the hole Everlue had burst through. "But you still had him locked up in solitary confinement- for three years! Just to satisfy your oversized ego?" The drilling noise reached a peak volume, and Sting's eyes widened. "MOVE!" He shoved Lucy and Happy in front of him.

The trio ran (or, in Happy's case, flew) as Everlue canon-balled in-between the walls. Suddenly, Everlue burst out of the ground right in front of them, and Sting jumped in front of Lucy and Happy, ready to fight. He would have lunged forward, but Lucy put a hand on his shoulder. "Sting, the tunnel's pretty close to collapsing," Lucy whispered. "We can't afford a rampaging dragon right now- we need precision. I'll gather some more magic energy and summon Lyn, alright?" Sting glared at Everlue, and nodded, though he didn't back down. Lucy turned to Everlue.

"Kemu Zaleon knew that if he didn't write your character as a heroic champion of justice, then his family would suffer," Lucy said.

Everlue began to frown. "Tell me, how exactly do you know all this?"

In response, Lucy held up the book. Sting began to smirk as he realized the truth. "It's all right here in black and white," Lucy said. Everlue gave the book an incredulous look.

"What? I've read that book from cover to cover, and Kemu Zaleon isn't in it." Sting let out a laugh, drawing Everlue's attention.

"Yeah, if you read it normally," he said, his voice smug. "But Kemu Zaleon wasn't just an author- he was a wizard! He was able to write what he really wanted to write, and he shuffled the letters so that it would resemble the story you wanted! That's why the book is so full of mistakes- it's not even the real story!"

Everlue began to shake in anger. "What a dirty trick. He turned a book about a great man like me into a hatchet job? THE NERVE OF THAT FOOL!" With that, he dove underground again. This time, even Sting focused on dodging his attacks.

"Oh, get over yourself!" Lucy shouted. "It's true that he wrote about all the pain and torture that you put him through." They landed, and Lucy glared at Everlue with all the hate she could muster. "But the chapters that focus on what you did to him are only a small part of the book. In fact, its secret has nothing to do with you."

Happy jumped up, literally drooling in anticipation. "Tell us, Lucy!"

Everlue stared at her uncomprehendingly. "What the devil do you mean?"

Lucy tucked the book behind her. "I'm not gonna give this book back to you, Duke Everlue." She pulled out a silver key with triangular, tufted ears. "'Cause it was never really yours to begin with!" She slashed the key downwards, making the air shimmer with silver light.

"Open! Gate of the Arctic Lynx! Lynceus!" With that, a figure stepped out of the light.

Lynceus was tall- easily half a head taller than Natsu. His hair was storm-cloud grey, with roots and flecks of black. Two grey, tufted ears stuck out of his head. He wore a black leather jacket with coffee-colored fur lining that went down to his knees. Beneath that, he wore a dark blue shirt, black pants, and chocolate-brown combat boots. By his side was a black and gold flintlock pistol, and he was holding a hunter's rifle with similar colors and a white scope. His cat-like eyes glowed with an ethereal gold light.

Happy's eyes glowed and he squeaked like a fangirl. "You're Lynceus- the big cat! Oh, wow, you look even cooler than I imagined!"

Whatever Lynceus was expecting, that wasn't it. He tilted his head at Happy and gave him a confused stare. "...Wotcher, Lucy, Sting." He said in a upper-class* accent. "Lupa did mention that you've both made it into Fairy Tail- congrats on that, by the way. She neglected to mention the fan, though."

Sting smiled at him. "Hey, Lyn!"

Lucy sighed as Happy started to drool. "Just ignore him- he'll go back to normal... eventually."

Lyn gave Happy a long, unreadable stare, before blinking once, slowly. Happy's smile widened, and he blinked back. Lucy gave them both a confused look. Sting smiled, and quietly explained. "For cats, blinking is another way of saying 'I trust you.'" Lucy let out a small "ah!" before smiling happily.

"Now, then!" Lynceus turned around, and gave Everlue an incredulous stare. "... you called me for a man with a rubbish wig?"

Sting raised his eyebrows, and he muttered, "I knew it was fake."

"No, really!" Lyn said, gesturing to Everlue with his rifle. "It looks as though he dug into the rubbish-bin and put a banana peel on his head!" Happy began to laugh, and Lucy tilted her head and frowned at Everlue's hair. _He's... not wrong._

Everlue began to shake with anger. And fear that his less than legal means of gaining his fortune would be revealed by the book. But mostly anger.

Lucy's eyes widened as Everlue grabbed a golden key. "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" He pointed the key straight down, and the pink-haired maid from before- Virgo- burst out of the ground.

"Did I hear my master summon me?"she asked.

"Virgo, fetch me that book," Everlue ordered.

Lyn's eyes widened, and his vertical pupils thinned. "..._hell_, Lucy, he has a _zodiac_? You _know_ I'm not that good!"

Sting smirked, and his fists lit up. Lucy took out her whip and cracked it against the floor. "We're right behind you, Lyn," Lucy reassured.

Lyn sighed. "_Brilliant_." He held up the rifle so that the scope was eye level. "Why do _I_ always get the strange ones?" Then his eyes widened as he noticed someone hanging on top of Virgo. "Wait, that's not a spirit." He lowered his rifle out of shock.

Lucy and Everlue gasped, Happy stepped back, and Sting's jaw dropped. "NATSU!" the Fairy Tail wizards cried.

"Yeah?" Natsu asked. From his face, it was clear he was just as shocked about the new development as they were.

"What is the meaning of this?" Everlue demanded.

"What are you doing up there?" Lucy asked, almost hysterical.

"Well, I saw her getting up, so I jumped on her and then all of a sudden I ended up here!"

Lyn gave him a look of disbelief. "You jumped through a celestial gate? And you _lived_?!" Lucy gaped at Natsu and Happy grinned.

"That's Natsu for you!", he said cheerfully.

Sting sat down, apparently having an existential crisis. "Natsu can survive the vacuum of the celestial world?... can I survive the vacuum of the celestial world? Is it a dragon slayer thing? Is it even physically possible? Now that I think about it, the main worry would be asphyxiation, and that isn't much of a concern if it's only a few seconds..." He continued to mumble, trying to work it out with his hands gripping his head.

"Guys? What the heck do I do now?" Natsu asked, unaware of the significance of his survival. Lyn shrugged.

"Well, what were you going to do before coming here?"

"Oh, yeah!" He hopped off of Virgo.

Everlue snapped out of his shock. "Virgo, clean up this rubbish!"

"As you wish master!" She swung her fist down, and Natsu caught it with both hands. He smirked at Virgo.

"Now I'm all fired up!"

Sting got up quickly and gave Lucy a shark's grin. "Can I rampage _now_?"

Lucy sighed and shrugged. "The tunnel's gonna collapse with Natsu fighting anyway. Go nuts."

"YES!" Sting ran forward to stand next to Natsu.

Natsu smiled at him. "Together?" he suggested.

Sting grinned. "Heck yes!"

"Fire dragon's..."

"White dragon's..."

"IRON FIST!"

"HOLY FIST!"

They both punched Virgo in the stomach, making her fly over Everlue into the wall.

Meanwhile, Lucy swung her whip at Everlue, while Lyn pulled the rifle back up. "You dirty little mole man!" Lucy yelled as she wrapped Everlue in the whip and flung him over her head, sending him flying as well. "You make me sick!"

Everlue flew a good distance behind the silver spirit. Lyn smirked, and his eyes seemed to glow brighter. "Gotcha." He balanced the gun over his shoulder and fired, without even glancing back at Everlue. A tranquilizer dart flew out and hit Everlue right in the neck, knocking him out cold.

As he fell, Lucy didn't even bother looking behind her. She dramatically closed her eyes. "You're just another greedy villain," she said as he hit the ground with a thud.

Lyn grinned at her. "Might want to work on your one-liners, love."

"Hush, Lynceus." Lucy managed to keep her eyes closed (though one of them did twitch.)

Sting grinned at Lyn and gave him a thumbs up. "Nice one!" Natsu smiled at them, standing above Virgo's fallen body.

"Way to go, cat!"

Lyn shrugged modestly as he began to glow silver.

_You two managed to find quite the family,_ he thought fondly, before fading away. Soon after, the ceiling above them began to rumble. Sting sighed. "Well, I guess we should get out of here before we're crushed."

/

Apparently, the tunnel wasn't the only thing that collapsed. The entire mansion had crumbled into nothing but rubble. Lucy's jaw dropped and Sting let out an impressed whistle. Natsu laughed.

"I like your style! Out with a bang. You two are definitely gonna fit in at Fairy Tail!" Natsu cheered.

"But, aren't we supposed to not destroy stuff?" Happy asked.

"...You know, if this was gonna happen anyway, was there really a point in sneaking in?" Lucy smacked Sting upside the head. "OW!"

Lucy sighed. "I hope we don't get blamed for this."

/

Lucy was sitting back in the mansion, telling Kaby Melon why they didn't destroy the book. Behind her, Natsu and Sting stood, interested, with Happy perched on Natsu's shoulder. She handed the book to Kaby. "If you really want to burn it, then I'd rather you do it yourself." Kaby glared at the book.

"I most certainly will burn this trash. I never wanted to see it again."

"I completely understand why you feel the way you do about this book, Kaby," Lucy said patiently as she stood up. "You want to protect your father's legacy, because you're actually Zaleon's son, aren't you?"

Behind her, the boys' eyes widened in shock. Kaby sighed.

"Yes, that's true."

"Have you read it yourself?" Lucy asked.

"No, I- I could never bring myself to do it. My father told me it was garbage"

"You were just gonna burn it?!" Natsu asked, angry. Sting glared at Kaby, and his eyes began to water.

"I was," Kaby admitted.

"WHY?! THAT WAS THE LAST THING YOUR FATHER EVER WROTE!" Sting yelled, furious tears running down his face. He gripped the back of the couch hard. "SOME OF US WOULD _DIE_ FOR THAT GIFT!"

Lucy put a hand on his hair, stroking it. Sting relaxed, though he didn't stop crying silently. "Sting, that's enough. Let him explain himself." Natsu huffed, and turned away, disgusted with Kaby.

And Kaby explained. He told a story about how, after three years of absence, his father had suddenly returned, and chopped off his writing arm after writing the book. Later, when he was laying down on a hospital bed, Kaby asked him why he did it- why he wrote that book for Everlue. His father simply smiled, and said _Son... I thought of you the entire time I was gone._

"Not long after that, my father passed away. However, the anger and betrayal I felt towards him lived on. But as the years passed by me, that anger slowly turned into remorse. And now... it's too late for me to ask for his forgiveness. So I decided to make amends by destroying the final work that had caused him so much unhappiness. This is the only way. The only way I can preserve his legacy."

Sting walked up to him, his hair casting a shadow over his face.

He wrapped his arms around the older man. "I'm sorry," he said. Tears were still running down his face. Kaby smiled sadly and ruffled his hair.

Then, after Sting let go, Kaby lit a match. "I'm sure that this is what he'd want."

"No, you're wrong," Lucy said. Everyone, even Natsu, looked at her, confused. A gust of wind blew out Kaby's match. "Kaby, look," Lucy said, and the book began to glow.

"What's happening?" Kaby asked, startled. A violet magic circle shone from the book. The letters of the title glowed green, and floated above the cover.

"A spell has been cast on this book," Lucy explained. "It's the work of the wizard Kemu Zaleon, or should I say Zekua Melon?"

"A spell?" Kaby eyes went wide as he stared at the now floating book. The floating letters repositioned themselves to spell... "Dear Kaby," Kaby read aloud in wonder.

"That's right," Lucy said. All three of the boys stared at the book in amazement as it began to hover upwards. "This book is his letter to you. Disguised behind a spell that rearranged all the words so no one else could read it." The book's pages fluttered, and all the letters burst out, surrounding them. Before their eyes, Daybreak rearranged itself, into Zekua's true work.

"Wow!" Natsu breathed out.

"Pretty!" Happy explained.

Sting said nothing, but his eyes were wide with awe.

"He didn't stop writing because he was ashamed. He stopped because he had finished his masterpiece- a novel containing everything he ever wanted to say to his beloved son. And when you read it the way he intended, it's easily his best work ever!"

As the letters streamed back into the book, Kaby remembered- I thought about you the entire time I was gone. The book closed, and floated down into Kaby's open arms. He hugged the book close.

"Thank you, Father." he said, tears running down his face.

/

Much later, the wizards were camping somewhere in the woods, with the bright, waxing moon above their heads.

Lucy huffed. "I still don't understand why we didn't take the two million. Kaby was happy in the end, wasn't he?"

Natsu rolled his eyes, and he bit into the fish he'd fried. "You gotta think about Fairy Tail's reputation. We'd look bad if we took the money without finishing the job."

Sting nodded, munching on one of his roasted marshmallows. "Plus, he needed the two million more than we do. Sure, that house looked rich, but he was only renting it for appearances."

Lucy gave him a strange look. "How do you know that?"

Natsu shrugged. "'Cause they smelled like some other house."

"Aye," Happy agreed.

Sting swallowed and looked up at Lucy. "And the house itself really didn't have their scent either. If they really lived there, the couch 'n' stuff would smell a lot like them."

Happy nodded. "Humans don't really rub on things to claim them, but even then, their smell gets everywhere." Lucy sweat-dropped.

"Should I be offended?" Then, she realized something. "Say, Natsu, do dragons rub on things to claim them?"

Natsu nodded, giving her a confused look. "Well, yeah! Igneel used to rub his body on a whole bunch of trees. He used to say it kept the Vulcans away."

Lucy clapped her hands together and looked at Sting. "So that's why you were leaning all over the house!" She laughed, and Sting blushed.

"Well- you never know-"

"What, trying to keep the Vulcans away, too?"

Sting turned an even brighter shade of pink, and Natsu and Happy laughed at him. Then, Lucy looked up, eyes glowing.

"Rented houses have some more obvious signs than scent. I might have noticed something too, but I was still lost in the clouds from reading that book."

Natsu gave her a smug look. "I got you figured out." He took another bite out of the fish. "All those papers on the desk at your place-" Lucy started, and Sting raised an eyebrow at her.

"You're writing a novel, aren't you?" Natsu finished, still smug. Lucy turned a bright red. Sting let out an evil laugh.

"Oh, so _that's_ what you were hiding from me when we moved in!"

"That's why you're such a bookworm, huh?" Happy said.

"Guys, promise you won't tell anybody about that, okay?" Lucy asked, hands on her cheeks.

Happy gave her a puzzled look. "Why not?"

Lucy put her face in her hands, and began to shake around hysterically. "'Cause I'm a horrible writer. If anybody read my stuff, I'd die of embarrassment!" Sting rolled his eyes.

Natsu sweat-dropped. "Don't worry, nobody's gonna read it."

Lucy calmed down, but hung her head, depressed. "Yeah, that doesn't really make me feel any better."

/

"'I don't know about this, guys. Are you sure we're going the right way,' she asks."

Natsu rolled his eyes, and didn't bother turning back. "'Happy says this is the way home, so this is the way we're going', is what I answer."

"Have some faith, I'm a cat! We have a great sense of smell. My nose will lead us home," Happy claimed, sitting comfortably on Natsu's shoulder.

"'It's dogs that have great noses. And what does smell have to do with direction', she asks quite haughtily."

Sting groaned, wading chest-deep in the muddy sludge. "Sis, for the love of all things holy, get _out_ of the clock and do your own walking!"

Sure enough, Lucy was sitting pretty in Horologium, who walked on without complaint behind them. Which was more than what could be said for Lucy. "'But I'm tired, and the swamp is extremely muddy. I don't even know why _you're_ walking in it', she adds with concern."

They walked out of the swamp into a sunny clearing, and Sting glared at the sludge now streaming down his body. "Sis, I swear, it doesn't even stick. And we're out of the swamp now, so _get out_."

"'No," she retorts smugly'," Horologium narrated. Sting turned his head to the sky and let out a loud, frustrated groan/scream, hands gripping his hair.

Natsu shook his head at the siblings. "Oh, brother."

Suddenly, the bush next to them rustled, catching the wizards' attention. "Who's there?" Natsu demanded, immediately leaping into the bush and fighting whoever was in there.

"'Do you always have to fight,' she inquires worriedly."

Sting pumped his fists and Happy cheered. "You got this!", Sting called out.

"You can take him, Natsu!", Happy said.

Suddenly, Natsu leapt out of the bush, with Gray Fullbuster jumping out after him. "It's Gray!" Happy cried.

"'Why is he in his underwear', the lady questions."

Sting turned pale, and took a step backwards. "Natsu, whatever you do, do _not_ take his boxers again. Everlue's maids added enough mental scars- I don't want to reopen an old one!"

"I _said_ I was sorry!" Gray protested. "And I was trying to find a bathroom!"

"Why would you strip down before you found one?" Natsu challenged, glaring at Gray. "And who the heck ever heard of a bathroom in the middle of the forest?"

Gray glared back at him. "I wanted some privacy. I didn't expect an idiot to barge in."

They continued to bicker as Lucy (having dismissed Horologium) sweat-dropped. "They're so childish."

Sting sighed. "Do they do this all the time?"he asked Happy, vaguely concerned.

"Aye," Happy said, long resigned to the fact.

/

"So, you're on your way back from a job?", Lucy asked. The Fairy Tail wizards were sitting on the edge of a cliff, chatting.

"Yeah, there's a shortcut through these woods that'll get you back to town in no time," Gray answered.

Happy gave Lucy a cheerful smile, looking away from his fishing pole. "See? I told you so." Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, if your nose is so great, then how come you didn't know Gray was right in front of us, smart guy?"

"I honestly thought it was just water. Ice wizards smell like... well, ice," Sting admitted, rubbing his head sheepishly.

Happy, however, did not change his expression. "There are some things you don't wanna smell."

Sting laughed, and Gray glared at Happy. "What'd you say?"

Natsu gave Gray a smug look, and casually placed his hands behind his head. "I agree. So go on home and we'll smell you later."

Gray got up. "Fine, I will. And unless you want trouble, you should too."

Sting tilted his head. "Any reason?"

Gray's voice went grim, and Sting noticed he was sweating nervously. "'Cause Erza's due back any time now."

Natsu went pale, and Happy shuddered. Sting didn't really see the problem, though he was concerned by the fact that Natsu was afraid of her.

"The Erza? Whoa." Aside from Mirajane, Erza was her greatest role-model from Fairy Tail. Happy grabbed a fish he'd caught and began to eat it.

"Yep, she's the most powerful woman in all of Fairy Tail."

Gray and Natsu looked down quietly (_seriously, is Erza that powerful_? Sting thought) as Lucy began to gush. "I can't wait to meet her!"

Sting shook his head. "Honestly, no one even knows what she looks like- Sorcerer Weekly never managed to take a picture." He turned to the trio of downcast wizards. "What's she like?"

"Scary," all three responded. Sting frowned in confusion. Then his eyes widened when he saw something that, even though he'd only been in Fairy Tail for a week, he knew was a sign of the Apocalypse.

Natsu and Gray agreeing on something.

"Wild animal?" Gray asked.

"A vile beast." Natsu agreed.

"More like a full-on monster!" Happy exclaimed.

Lucy managed to come up with the image of a Kaiju sized woman breathing fire. Happy shook his head. "No, she's not that big."

Natsu sat down, apparently in full thinking mode. "Well, she's big enough for me."

Gray nodded, crossing his arms. "One thing we can all agree on is she is definitely that scary. Well, maybe a little scarier."

"What, it's not like she can take down a mountain in one kick, right?" Sting asked. When they didn't respond, Sting's eyes widened. "Wait, seriously?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, about that scary."

Gray shook his head. "More like three in one kick." Sting's jaw dropped as Happy shook his head.

"No need to exaggerate, Gray, it's more like two."

Lucy began to get a little nervous. "Even if she can kick down one, it's still pretty scary."

_If she's strong enough to scare Natsu and Gray into agreeing on something, she must be super strong... is- is Natsu not the strongest mage in Fairy Tail_? Sting looked down at the ground in front of him, a dark, depressed aura surrounding him. Lucy sweat-dropped.

"I don't want to know."

Gray shook his head. "We should get back." Natsu nodded, still terrified. "Let's get moving!"

Sting looked up suddenly, eyes narrowing. _The magic energy around us... why is it getting more intense?_

**BOOM**

The ground disintegrated into sand and burst upwards. The next thing they knew, they were buried within the sand. Lucy was on all fours, Gray was waist deep, Natsu was buried face down, and Sting could barely keep his head above ground before pulling himself up. Lucy coughed, and Gray gave the air a frustrated look. "What now?"

Sting pulled himself out of the sand and did a quick head count. _Wait, where's..._

Natsu pulled himself up, sand pouring from his mouth. "Happy?!"

/

"Help me..." Happy said. His feet were tied up (meaning flying away wasn't an option) above a bundle of sticks and leaves that were sparks away from turning into a campfire. Or a cooking fire.

A weird, grey, goblin like mage, two ginger twins, a strange man with a floating crystal ball, and a giant chicken. Yep.

"We're finally gonna get some real protein!" one of the twins said.

"No berries for us tonight." said the other.

"Meat!", the chicken cried out .

"Our future holds a feast," the man with the ball commented. Happy continued to quiver, something the twins noticed.

"Wow."

"Look at him shaking. Jeez."

The goblin-person smirked. "Relax. You're gonna be in our bellies soon enough, so there's no need to be scared."

"Actually, I'm not shaking like this because I'm scared." The wizards gave him a puzzled look.

"Huh?"

"I gotta use the bathroom, bad." This, despite the cliche, was not a lie. "I can't hold it much longer, and I bet you it's gonna make me taste weird. The goblin scoffed.

"Who cares? Now cook him."

"Meat." The chicken grabbed his frying pan, and, with a red magic circle, lit his stick on fire.

Without looking up, the man with the ball nodded. "I will take mine medium, please."

Happy began to get really nervous- and not because of the fire. "Hey, I'm serious. It's gonna make me taste funny. I just know it will."

"Hold it right there!" The wizards turned. Natsu and the others glared back down at them.

"Happy!" Lucy called out.

"Thank goodness! Now I'm not gonna taste weird!" The goblin glared at him.

"Pipe down!"

Natsu began to crack his knuckles. "That's our friend you're trying to roast, buddy. You guys are gonna have other plans for dinner."

Sting glared down at them. "You guys are wizards, right? Are you freelance or what?"

The goblin smirked. "I'm not telling. Get them!"

The freelance wizards leapt up.

"Gray, let's do it." Natsu didn't bother looking away from the wizards.

"Alright, but don't go telling me what to do."

Lucy frowned. "Natsu, the chicken looks like he uses fire magic, so you should go after-"

Natsu leapt forward and lunged for the Happy, dodging the twins. Lucy gave him a blank look. "Or do that. That works too."

Gray jumped down and dodged said fire-chicken. Sting gave her a sympathetic look. "Sorry, sis. Maybe go help Happy and Natsu?"

Lucy sighed. "Sounds like a plan."

Sting jumped down and rushed for the goblin, who looked like the leader. The goblin punched the ground. "Sand bomb, go!" Sting's pupils shrank. _Aw, crap._ The pale grains wrapped around him, forming a floating sphere. Lucy gave him a panicked look.

"Sting!"

Natsu dragged her along. "He'll be fine. Come on- Happy needs us!"

"Right." She followed him.

The twins lunged at Gray with a dagger each, but Gray was able to beat them off easily- without magic.

Lucy and Natsu reached Happy, and Lucy started undoing the knots. "Help! Lucy's gonna eat me!"

"Shut up, cat!" The chicken snuck up behind her, but Natsu noticed. He punched the chicken, knocking him out easily.

Gray, meanwhile, was fighting the man with the crystal ball.

In the loosest definition of the term.

"You'll see someone special, but the stars point to great trouble with water and women."

Gray wasn't sure if he should be angry or confused. "You're telling my fortune?!" He knocked the other guy out quickly.

Lucy gave him an impressed look. _He's not using magic._ Then she realized something. "Put some clothes on!"

"Crap!"

The Goblin frowned. This clearly wasn't going how he planned. "Where did these brats come from anyway?"

Suddenly, a loud, almost slurping, noise came from his Sand Bomb. The goblin turned to look at it, shocked. "Uh-oh." The sphere collapsed in on itself, and Sting sucked the last of the sand in, flipping as he landed.

Sting let out a soft, hacking noise, trying to cough up a few stray grains. "Thanks a lot, _jerk_. You made me stoop to a new low- eating _dirt_." He managed to spit the last grain out of his mouth, then smirked at the goblin, who backed up fearfully. "But hey, I'm a White dragon slayer. Magic is magic, so I can't really complain."

Then, his hand began to glow bright white. "I'm gonna try something new, so hold still, alright?" Then, faster than then the goblin could react, Sting lunged forward. "WHITE DRAGON'S CLAW!" He shoved a clawed hand into the goblin's stomach, sending him flying into a nearby tree. The goblin tried to send out another Sand Bomb, but...

"Why- why can't I move?" He looked down. The place where Sting had touched him glowed with a strange symbol. Sting let out a cheerful laugh, hands behind his head.

"Hey, it worked! Took me a while to find the right symbol, but it finally worked! Now, then..." He lunged forward again, his fist glowing. "WHITE DRAGON'S HOLY FIST!" The goblin ended up breaking that tree and cracking the next one. He looked vaguely disappointed when the symbol wore off. "Aww... it only lasted one attack? Back to the drawing board, then..." He sighed.

/

They had tied up the five wizards to the tree Sting had cracked. Natsu and Gray were glaring at each other again, as Sting watched.

"Don't you think you might have gone overboard, Natsu?" Gray asked.

"So what if I did? I got the job done," Natsu retorted.

"Grow up, already. You're an embarrassment to the guild."

"What? Shut up!"

"No, you shut up."

The argument devolved from there, making Happy sweat-drop. Sting, however, didn't seem to care.

_Natsu may not be the strongest mage of Fairy Tail, but he's still pretty tough..._ Suddenly, Sting got an idea. It was one of those ideas that Lucy would probably think was stupid, but was actually _smart_. Sting gave Natsu a speculative look. _But he'd have to agree to do it..._ Sting sighed. He hoped Natsu would.

Lucy, meanwhile, thought she heard the goblin-mage say something. "Lulla.."

"Huh? What's lulla?" Lucy asked, which grabbed Sting's attention.

"Lullaby is..."

Natsu and Gray both looked over.

"Lullaby?" Gray asked.

Sting's eyes widened. A shadow was moving across the ground. It wasn't attached to any object.

"INCOMING!" Happy screamed. All of the Fairy Tail mages were knocked off their feet. The freelance wizards let out terrified whimpers.

"They found us- I knew we hadn't gone far enough," one of the twins squeaked out. The shadow morphed to resemble a giant hand, which snatched the wizards underground. Sting jumped back.

"What was that?" Lucy asked fearfully.

"Who was that?" Natsu asked, more confused than anything.

"Well, whoever it was, they're fast," Gray said. "I can't even sense their presence anymore."

Sting sniffed, then shook his head. "The wizard is a man, a little older than you guys, and, obviously, uses shadow magic. Other than that..." He looked crestfallen.

Natsu shook his head. "I can't smell anything else either." He gave the direction the shadow wizard must have headed a puzzled look. "But, what could this mean?"

"Lullaby," Lucy said. She felt like she read something about it once... something important.

* * *

I just wrote a total of over 20,000 words. I didn't know I could do that!

Anyway, I changed the name of the Lynx constellation, and, again there was a reason for that. The original Lynx constellation was called... Lynx. Yeah. Lynceus is a minor hero from Greek mythology- an Argonaut, alongside Jason. He was supposed to have X-Ray vision- he could see through walls, trees, skin (ew), and even the ground! That's what gave me the idea of Lyn (nicknamed because it made the name a bit closer to the original name) a sniper. As far as I'm aware, there is no comic-book/anime/manga sniper who has actual X-Ray vision. Lyn's vision isn't quite the same as his mythological counterpart's, though. Like I hinted, he has 360 peripheral vision- at the cost of not seeing through solid walls.

*The stuff on him having an "upper-class" accent? I read somewhere that a British accent was, a long time ago, unique to royal families, before more people in the UK started emulating them. Why is Lyn British? Honestly, I don't know- he more or less told me to make him British once I started writing him. Bit last minute, but okay. It wasn't until after the fact that I realized there's a British sniper in a show I like... oops? Anyway, my accent writing is based on Harry Potter and parents who were raised on British English (not accents, just grammar and some vocabulary)- let me know if I'm overdoing it. I don't want it to be too obnoxious.

What is Sting's stupid/smart idea? That's for the next chapter! See you then!


	5. Chapter 5- Lullaby- Part 1

Me: Sting has a dumb idea- what can it _possibly be?!_

Reviewer: Is he gonna fight Natsu?

Me:... Maybe...

Should have made that less obvious... oh well.

Still don't own the canon- but hope you enjoy anyway!

* * *

"So what sounds good, Lucy?" Sting asked. The siblings' rent was due soon, and they were currently looking for a job to cover it. Sting adjusted his fur-lined jacket as he tried to get a better look at the jobs. "Magic bracelet? Cursed staff? Love forecast? _Ooh, a _volcano demon!"

"Honestly, I have no idea- except _not_ that last one!" Lucy gave him a stern glare, and he pouted.

"Aww, come on!"

"Well, let me know when you find one." Mira said, cheerful as ever, from the bar. "The master's away at a conference in Clover right now, so I'm covering for him!"

Sting blinked. "A conference? What kind?"

"Oh, just a meeting with our guild league!"

Lucy gave her a puzzled look. "Guild league?"

"That's right! It's like the magic council, but not... hey, Reedus, can I borrow a light pen?"

"Oui." A circular-shaped man tossed her a pen, which she grabbed. She quickly drew up a diagram. "You already know about the Magic Council, right?"

Sting nodded, still confused. "Well, yeah! They make sure all the mages obey the laws."

"Well, below them are local leagues of guilds. It's their job to pass down decisions made by the council. Our league includes Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Sabertooth."

Lucy frowned. "Sabertooth? Natsu mentioned it when we met, but I never heard much about it."

Mira smiled at her. "Well, Sabertooth is a pretty small guild, but our Masters are pretty close! After all, we weren't always a big guild either."

Sting shrugged. "True enough. You guys only got big relatively recently- ever since you got your first Wizard Saint, right?"

Mira nodded. "Gildarts is pretty tough- even though he hasn't been around for a while..."

"But still!" Lucy leaned back thoughtfully. "I never realized that the guilds were so interconnected!"

Mira nodded. "It's important for us to stay together."

"Otherwise the dark ones will attack!" Natsu popped up behind them, a demonic smile plastered across his face. Lucy felt a chill go up her spine as she whimpered. Then, she glared at him.

"You trying to scare me to death?"

Natsu and Happy laughed.

Normally, Sting would join in. However, he was refusing to make eye-contact with Natsu, a slight blush on his cheeks. If Natsu noticed, he didn't say anything about it. "Oh, man, that was almost _too_ easy!"

"But the people Natsu's talking about are real." Mira added another section, seperate from the rest of the diagram. "They aren't part of any of the leagues, and many are involved with illegal businesses."

"Alright, time for our next job!" Natsu grinned at them. Sting continued to look at the ground.

"What makes you think we're joining you again? You didn't even need me last time, you just needed a girl with blonde hair. Choose someone else to deal with your nonsense."

"But we choose you! 'Cuz you're so nice!"

Sting quietly raised his eyebrows as Lucy blushed.

"Ya know, you beat two members of Southern Wolf, and then a women shaped like a gorilla. Don't worry if you don't want to be in a team with them- you'll get plenty of requests to join teams." Gray smiled at them. Lucy sighed.

"That was mostly Natsu and Sting."

Gray immediately whirled on Natsu. "That was you, jerk?"

"And me!" Sting protested, snapping out of his silence.

"You gotta problem with that?" The two continued to ignore him, making Sting sigh.

The argument devolved from there. Sting caught 'you mouth-breather!' (_what does _that_ mean_?) and "ice-cube", but he wasn't really listening.

"How about you join the team of love with me, Lucy, tonight, just the two of us." Loke slipped next to Lucy, grabbing her attention. Sting's gaze zeroed in on him quickly.

"Excuse me?" Sting growled. However, he was a short twelve-year-old, which did nothing to deter Loke. Thus, Sting was ignored. _Again._

"You look amazing! If I took my glasses off, I think you'd blind me!"

"You wanna find out?" Lucy asked drily. She moved a little, letting the keys clink against each other. Loke backed up in fear.

"YOU'RE A CELESTIAL WIZARD? OH, FATE, WHY MUST YOU BE SO CRUEL?! I'M SORRY, BUT I'M AFRAID WE WEREN'T MEANT TO BE!" He ran out the guild fast enough to kick up dust clouds.

"What was that?" Lucy gave Mira a puzzled look.

"A good riddance is what," Sting growled, Protective Younger Brother Mode™ fully activated.

"You know, rumors say Loke had a bad experience with a Celestial Spirit Mage," Mira commented.

"Can't say I'm surprised," Lucy muttered.

Suddenly, Happy floated up next to Sting, a playful smirk plastered across his face. "Speaking of relationships…"

Sting frowned at Happy, confused. "What about them?"

Happy snickered. "How's that celebrity crush doing?" He pointed at Natsu, who was currently fighting with Gray.

Sting's eyes widened, and he turned a hilarious shade of pink. "I- I don't know what you're talking about!"

Lucy smirked as well. "Really? Your blushing around Natsu isn't related to that at all, then?"

Sting blushed brighter, and turned to Mira for mercy.

He didn't get any. Mira giggled. "Sorry, Sting. I'm good at couples, but Natsu's a bit too old for you."

Sting glared at them, his entire face pink. "I do _not_ have a- ACK!"

Gray had thrown Natsu across the room... right on top of Sting. Natsu gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Sting!" He immediately got up to charge Gray again. Sting felt his face turn an even darker shade of pink.

All three of the mages gave Sting a smug look. He glared helplessly at them. "I hate _all_ of you."

"Oh, hey, he's back," Lucy said unenthusiastically, as Loke burst through the door.

"Guys, I've got bad news! ERZA'S BACK!"

The entire guild (except for Mira, Sting, and Lucy) froze in horror. Natsu and Gray in particular looked very afraid.

Lucy blinked. "Everyone seems to be afraid of her..." She then remembered what Natsu and Gray said and started to sweat nervously. "I'm so scared!"

Then, a red-headed girl around Lucy's age walked through the gates, carrying a large, crooked horn over her shoulder. She wore a chest plate with a stylized cross on it, as well as a blue skirt and black boots. Lucy's eyes widened.

"Oh, wow, she's pretty!", she murmured. Sting saw an opportunity and took it without mercy.

"Celebrity crush, much?"

"Shut up, Sting."

"Welcome back, Erza!"

"Hello, Mira. Is the Master around?"

"No, he's at the League meeting."

"I see..."

One of the guild-members gathered the courage to speak up. "Hey, Erza, what's with the horn?"

"Oh, this? It's the horn of a monster that I vanquished. The locals were so thankful they decorated it and gave it to me as a gift. Is it a problem?"

"No, not at all!", the whole guild squeaked out. Erza suddenly glared at them.

"I bet she's heard about what happened on Mount Hakabe..." Cana said, almost sing-song. Macao shuddered.

"You think so? Oh, man, I'm a goner."

"Listen up! I've heard that Fairy Tail has caused nothing but trouble as of late. Master Makarov may not care, but I most certainly do."

"Cana!" The woman in question flinched. "Stop drinking in those skimpy clothes. Wakaba-" He flinched as well."- get rid of that filthy habit! Nab-" He started, almost wincing. "I suspected I'd spot you dawdling at the request board. Just pick a job! Macao..."

"Please just say something!" The man was terrified. Erza sighed and pinched her forehead.

"I don't even know where to _begin_ with you. Still, I won't say anything for today."

Both Lucy and Sting made confused faces. "That's... a whole lot of nothing she just said..." Sting muttered.

"It's like she's taking charge!" Lucy whispered.

"That's Erza for ya'!" Happy said.

"Now, where are Natsu and Gray."

"Right over here!" Happy called, pointing. Sting and Lucy looked over... and got the shock of their lives.

_What?!_ Lucy internally screamed.

_Why is this worse than the maids?!_ Sting panicked.

"Hey, Erza!" Gray said, clearly nervous. "I'm just over here, hanging out with my best friend!"

"Aye!" Natsu said, just as panicky.

"WHY IS NATSU ACTING LIKE HAPPY?!" Lucy screeched.

Sting hugged Lucy for comfort and began to tremble. "It's the end of the world..."

"I see. I'm glad you two are getting along." Erza's smile turned mischievous. "Although, it's only natural for even the best of friends to lock horns every now and again."

"Well, I don't know if we're the _best_ of friends..."

"Aye!"

Sting gave Mira a horrified look. "Why...?"

Mira giggled. "Natsu challenged Erza to a fight, and she beat him up pretty badly."

Macao laughed. "And Gray was walking around naked, so she beat _him_ up too."

Cana smiled at them, lifting up her barrel again. "Let's not forget the time she punched Loke in the face for flirting with her. He deserved it, though."

Lucy nodded, half resigned and half approving. "That's fair."

"I have a favor to ask of the two of you." This caught Gray's and Natsu's attention. "While I was out on my job, I heard some disturbing rumors. I was going to ask the Master's opinion on it, but this must be addressed right away."

"I want you two to come along."

The whole guild gasped. Mira blinked. "Those three on the same team... I never even considered it. They might be Fairy Tail's strongest team!"

/

"ARGH! ERZA'S CRAZY, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WORK WITH THIS GUY?"

"WHY WOULD SHE NEED HELP, ANYWAY?"

Gray and Natsu continued their… argument? _Technically, they're agreeing on the same points,_ Lucy thought to herself. She sighed.

Happy gave her a puzzled look. "Why are you here, Lucy?"

"Mira asked me to come to keep those two from killing each other." Happy sweat-dropped.

"You're not doing a good job at that." He shook his head. "But what I meant is why isn't Sting here? You two are supposed to be together forever!"

It was Lucy's turn to sweat-drop. "Okay, no. I'm his sister, not his keeper. He's at our place moving furniture."

Finally, she lost her temper with Gray and Natsu. "Would you two shut up?!"

"..."

They stared at her uncomprehendingly and unimpressed for a solid second before returning to their argument. Lucy gave them an evil look, then pretended to see someone behind them. "Hi Erza!"

Both boys turned pale, and immediately hugged each other (out of fear and desperation to maintain their charade). Lucy and Happy both burst out laughing.

"Hello. Are you tagging along?"

Ironically, Erza arrived right then from the opposite direction. Lucy started. _That worked better than I thought it would... but what's with all the luggage?! _She shook her head and bowed politely to Erza.

"Yes, actually! My name is Lucy. Mirajane said that I might learn something from shadowing you guys."

"Oh! I remember you, I saw you in the guild... though I remember seeing someone else next to you...?"

"Yeah, that was my little brother, Sting. He's at home right now moving furniture."

"I see. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lu-"

A soft, kitten-like sneeze came from the depths of the suitcases. Lucy glared at the luggage, while the others gave it confused glances.

"... Erza, did you kidnap a cat or something?" Happy asked. Lucy stormed over to the bags and reached into its depths.

"Ow!" Sting yelped as Lucy dragged him out by his arm. Erza, Gray, Natsu and Happy all felt their eyes widen. Lucy forced Sting to look at her, and gave him a look that spelled death. Sting let out a nervous laugh. "...Hi, sis!"

"What exactly do you think you're doing?", she hissed.

Sting gave her a wide-eyed, innocent look. "Tagging along?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Lucy screeched. She did not know what mission they were going on. However, considering that _Erza_ asked for Gray and _Natsu_ for help, it wasn't exactly hard to guess premise... or danger. "YOU-" She jabbed a finger at Sting's chest. Gray began to back up slowly, and Natsu gave her a look full of fear. Happy hid behind Natsu, while Erza merely looked impressed. "-ARE GOING STRAIGHT HOME _RIGHT NOW!_" Sting groaned.

"Sis, for the love of God, I'm _not_ helpless! I fought against Virgo, and-"

"I think he can handle it." Gray put his hands up defensively as Lucy whirled around in rage. Sting gave him a look full of hope. "He handled those wizards pretty well, didn't he?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And you said that the Gorilla maid was all him, right?"

"Hey!" Natsu protested.

"But- but-"

"I agree." Erza finally spoke up. "While I can't say that I know him that well, it _was_ pretty impressive he could sneak into my bags like that." She turned to Sting, who looked sheepish. "We could use a mage like that."

Lucy sighed. _Looks like I'm outvoted... and he isn't five anymore, either..._

"Well, it's final, then!" Natsu said cheerfully. He walked up to Sting, grinning cheerfully. "Looks like we're an official team, huh?" Sting blushed again and looked down.

"Er, yeah!... you know, there's something I wanted to ask you."

Happy tilted his head. "What is it?"

Sting took a deep breath, and stared Natsu straight in the eye. "... I wanna have a match when we get back!"

All of the mages (except Erza, who just looked mildly surprised) felt their jaws drop. Lucy started to twitch. As the silence stretched on, Sting broke eye contact with Natsu, and felt himself blush harder and harder.

_Oh, god, I messed it up, he's not gonna take me seriously, Lucy's gonna kill me, what do I do, what do I do, what do I-_

"Alright."

Sting blinked, and looked back up at Natsu. Natsu was grinning back at him. "R- really?"

Lucy yanked Sting behind her and actually _hissed_ at Natsu. "NO!"

Natsu gave her a puzzled look. "What? I'm not gonna fight him _now._"

Lucy's imagination went into overdrive. She couldn't stop seeing Natsu as a tall, fiery demon with the pits of hell burning right behind him. Nor could she stop seeing Sting as the tiny toddler her mom had carried from the mountains all those years ago.

Sting seemed to have an idea what she was thinking. He gave her an indignant look. "Sis, I'm not five anymore!"

Erza smiled fondly at them. _It's almost like seeing Natsu and Gildarts... and... _Her smile dropped quickly at _that_ memory. She cleared her throat, catching the their attention. "I think it's a good idea. Sting _is _a Dragon Slayer, correct?"

Sting grinned at her. "Yep!"

"Then it would be a good test of his abilities."

"That's true!" Happy realized. "As far as we know, you two are the only Dragon Slayers out there. You _both_ might learn something from each other."

Lucy glared stubbornly at Natsu. "I am _not_ letting you fight with that- that _demon_!"

"Hey!"

Gray shrugged. "That's fair. Still, Sting should be able to handle himself."

Erza nodded. "We can make sure that they don't overdo it."

"Aye!" Happy stuck a paw up in the air. "Master watches over the matches between members of the guild- that way collateral damage is minimized!"

Lucy looked around at the wizards. All of them seemed to have so much _faith_ in Sting...

"Sis." Lucy turned, and Sting didn't look like a child- the look in his eyes was far more reminiscent of Natsu. "I wanna do this. If I'm going to protect you, I should at least know where I stand, right?"

Lucy sighed. "...Fine. But _only_ with the Master as a third party."

"YES!" Sting leapt up into the air with joy, and highfived Natsu. Natsu then pumped a fiery fist into the air.

"ALL RIGHT! I'M ALL FIRED UP NOW!"

/

Natsu groaned, leaning back against his seat. Sting was a bit better off, though he was still noticeably pale. Gray rolled his eyes at Natsu.

"Pathetic. First you pick a fight with a twelve-year-old, now this?"

"Technically, I picked a fight with him…" Lucy glared at Sting, who gave her an indignant look. "What?"

Erza sighed. "Well. something should be done about this... Natsu, come sit next to me."

Sting gave her a nervous look and Lucy (and Plue, who she had summoned for company) blanched. _Should we move? _

They quickly swapped seats with a still-groggy Natsu. He let out another pained groan. Erza gave him a fond smile.

Then she punched him in the gut, knocking him out cold. "There! That should settle you down for a bit!"

Lucy's jaw dropped to the ground, and Sting flinched as if Erza punched _him_ in the gut. Gray looked out the window, pretending not to watch. Happy sweat-dropped, long used to Erza.

Gray turned back to Erza, changing the focus. "So, what is this mission all about?"

/

"I wanna go home..." Lucy whimpered. Plue quivered in her hands like jelly.

Sting shrugged, a grin forming on his face. "Dunno. Facing a dark guild to stop them from using a mysterious, probably evil magic? Kinda sounds like the adventure novels you like to read."

Lucy sighed, with Plue mimicking her. She reached over and bought them lunch (mystery meat sandwiches) from one of the salesmen outside. "Yeah, but..."

Gray smirked. "Not much different from the Everlue mission from what I heard."

Sting's gaze suddenly went unfocused, looking at horrors far beyond mortal ken. "You don't think Eisenwald has eldritch maids from hell, do you?"

"...what?"

Erza shuddered. "The first mission is always the strangest..."

Lucy handed each of the mages (except Natsu, who was still passed out) a sandwich. Sting scarfed his down within seconds. He turned to Lucy, eyes shining wide. "Hey, sis, can I have a-"

"No."

"But you didn't even listen to what I wanted!"

"I know what you want, and the answer is no. Sting, you are almost a teenager, and you are too old for float cookies."

Gray blinked. "Wait, you still eat float cookies?"

Sting gave him a scandalized look. "Well, yeah!"

"I stopped eating those when I was _seven_!"

"Really, Sting." Erza gave him a borderline disappointed look, making Sting look away. "I'd have thought becoming a teenager would mean you would act more adult-like."

Sting looked indignant. "But-"

Lucy shook her head. "Sting, no."

"Come on-"

"No."

_Okay. Time to stop holding back. _Sting shut his eyes in determination...

...and opened them into the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could muster. "Pleeaase?"

Gray gave him a confused/disturbed look as Erza shook her head in amusement. Lucy didn't bother looking up.

"No."

Sting pouted and stood up, angry tears suddenly popping out of his eyes. "Well, _fine_! I'll go look for the food cart and see if _they_ have any float cookies. I guess you're too _mean_ to care about my _feelings_!"

He stormed off, and Gray's expression did not change. Erza looked vaugely concerned.

Finally, Gray turned to Lucy. "...you're raising a toddler, you know that?"

Lucy sighed. "Believe me, I noticed."

/

Sting stomped back into the compartment, angry veins popping on his forehead. The food cart, apparently, did _not_ have float cookies. _This is the worst. The __actual_ worst! He continued to pout as he saw the group of Fairy Tail wizards chatting casually. _Of course, they don't care, why would they?_ He opened his mouth to shout something at them...

...only to catch a strange scent in the air. A _familiar _scent.

_Male. Around Lucy's age. Shadow magic... crap. It's the same guy from the forest! The heck's he doing here? __...Does he recognize me? Or the others? Is he a guild wizard? But if he is, why did he snatch- you know what? Screw it. I'll ask him myself._

Sting quickly pinpointed the mage's location. It was, indeed, a male who looked like he was in his late teens/early twenties. He wore his hair in a ponytail, and eyes were half shut, as if he were about to fall asleep. Based on the way he was looking out the window, however, he was very much awake. Sting spotted a dark purple marking on his chest peeking out of his white jacket- though it was covered well enough that Sting couldn't recognize the guild. _Well, that settles it. Time to have a chat with him!_

"'Excuse me, is this seat taken?" He gave the strange wizard a polite 'don't mind me, just a cute little twelve-year-old' smile. The stranger blinked, taken aback. _He doesn't recognize me. __Good_.

"No, go right ahead."

"Thanks!" He sat down and gave the stranger an apologetic grin. "Sorry, but my sister's getting on my nerves." He gestured to where Lucy and the others were sitting. Conveniently, Gray was showing off a icy-sculpture that was to far away for most to see properly- meaning it was unlikely the stranger could recognize their guild mark. He made a face. "Also, pretty sure that guy's flirting with her." _Of course, if he really _is,_ I'd beat him up._

The stranger looked at the same direction and winced sympathetically. "Ouch. I can see why you left. I'm Kageyama, by the way."

"Sting. Nice to meet you!" _Ha! He doesn't recognize them either!_ "By the way, I noticed you have a guild mark on your chest, but I don't recognize it." He gave Kageyama (who had turned pale) a wide grin. "I know I don't look like much, but I'm a wizard too! I'm freelance at the moment, but I'd really like to join a guild soon!"

Kageyama visibly relaxed at that, something Sting noticed. "Oh, I don't think you'd be interested in mine. It's a pretty minor guild, and, really, you probably wouldn't fit in."

_Bullcrap._ _If it was a minor guild, those freelance wizards wouldn't be so scared. If it was a major _legit_ guild, he wouldn't be so tense about it, or lie about it. Conclusion- probably a dark guild. _

_Okay, that's settled... Now what? _Sting decided to stall. Lucy would notice that he was taking too long, so she'd probably notice him. In the meantime, he let out a huff of disappointment and leaned back against the seat.

"Aw... that kinda sucks. Oh, well- there are other guilds." He noticed something sticking out of Kageyama's pack. It looked like a flute with a skull-mouthpiece- which had three eye-holes. The direction of the conditioned air carried the scent of it to a curious Sting.

His pupils shrank into pinpricks. _It... smells like..._ _blood. L__ike decay, rot, death, _death_, _**death**_..__. _Sting began to hyperventilate.

Kageyama gave him a concerned look. Lucy finally noticed them, and nudged Erza. Erza turned, and her eyes narrowed at Kageyama. Kageyama didn't notice this, still concerned about Sting. "What is it?"

Sting gathered his wits. _Ignore it._ He steadied his breathing and looked Kageyama in the eye, pupils still small. "...what's with the flute?"

Kageyama suddenly glared at him. "Shadow Knuckle." Sting cried out as sharp fists of shadow bust out from below him launched him into the air. The passengers around him screamed- Sting distinctly heard Lucy call out his name. "Shadow Blades!" This time, sharp tendrils of shadow rushed at him, intent on shredding him.

Sting rolled in mid air, managing to escape with only a few cuts. The passengers around him began to run out of the compartment, screaming. "...You missed." He glared at him, fists lighting up. His pupils stretched into cat-like slits. "_I won't_."

"Open! Gate of the Blue-Ice Wolf: Lupa!"

"Ice Make: Knuckle!"

A silvery blur rushed forward, followed by many fists of ice. Lupa slashed at Kageyama with her knife. Kageyama leapt out of the way. He countered Gray's ice with shadowy, fist-shaped constructs. Erza stepped forward, glaring furiously. It may have been either the light and Sting's state of mind, but Erza's armor seemed to glow.

Kageyama glared at them. "Fairy Tail, huh?"

Lupa snarled at him. She must have smelled the bl- the _flute_ as well. "Get the _hell _away from the pup." She placed herself in front of Sting, arms stretched out protectively. In her hands were two throwing knives.

Kageyama sneered. "We'll meet again soon, Fairy _Flies._ You'll hear your Lullaby soon enough." With that, he (literally) melted into the shadows. Belatedly, the train screeched to a halt. Someone must have found the courage to pull the emergency brake. Sting felt the adrenaline die off, but the memories stayed with him- as did the smell of the flute. _So much blood..._ As if from another plane of reality, Sting saw red liquid drip from his hands. Below him were pale, grey scales, and unseeing golden eyes...

Lupa immediately turned around and hugged a now shaking Sting close to her. "It's okay, there's no blood, just me, alright? Breathe in and out through your nose, okay?"

"..'kay." Sting's tremors resided as he inhaled Lupa's scent. _No blood. It's just her._ He let out one last shudder. "...I'm good. Thanks, Lupa."

Lupa gave him a sad smile. "Anytime, Sting." She faded into silver light... and Lucy immediately took over hugging Sting.

"Oh, god, _blood?_"

Sting gave her a -obviously fake- reassuring smile. "I'm fine." Gray and Erza looked at him in confusion. Lucy gave them a glare of death, which made Gray flinch fearfully and Erza look away politely. Natsu (who had immediately bolted up after the train stopped) and Happy looked more understanding. Gray immediately whirled on him.

"What, the second another mage comes, you're too chicken to fight?!"

Natsu glared at him. "You callin' me a coward?!"

"You _are_ a coward!"

"And you're a- " the last part of that sentence came out as a retching noise. The train had started moving again. Happy sighed, and Erza shook her head.

"I think I saw Lullaby."

Everyone, even Natsu (though he stilled looked like he was going to puke), turned to Sting. Sting was shaking again- though not as much as before.

Lucy gave him a concerned look. "Was that what smelled... you know..."

Sting nodded. "Lucy, does a flute with a skull with three eyes sound familiar to you?" Honestly, Sting felt it was familiar, but he didn't remember any details.

"A skull with three eyes?" Gray asked.

Happy shuddered. "That sounds creepy!"

Lucy frowned. "Let me think... it's a flute, so odds are it's some sort of music..." Lucy's eyes widened in realization. "It's death magic!"

Sting let out a mirthless laugh, shoulders slumping. "That explains the stench."

Gray gave Lucy a puzzled look. "How do you know this?".

"Before the Black Wizard Zeref tried to resurrect his brother, he had to experiment with all forms of life -and death- magic. Part of that was creating new life as demons-" Gray twitched at that. "-but part of that was the theory. Death magic was meant to give the dying a peaceful, painless passing. Zeref called it a final push across the line"

Erza grit her teeth. "...Before others corrupted it to push those further on our own soul. Death magic kills whoever it is directed at."

"If I'm right... Lullaby is even worse than that."

/

The magic-fueled car screeched in protest as Erza pushed it to its limits. They had found out that Kageyama had returned to the train and hijacked it, though they _still_ didn't know why. Natsu groaned. "What... did I do... to be... sentenced... to Hell?"

"_Hmmm,_ let me think," Gray muttered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. By all logic, Natsu shouldn't have been able to hear- after all, Gray was hanging on the top of the car, and Natsu was practically dead to the world. Then again, Natsu _was_ a dragon-slayer.

Natsu growled and stuck his hand upward to give Gray a rude gesture... only to get it slapped down by Lucy. "No, Natsu. There are children." As if on cue, Plue tilted his non-canine face at Natsu, Happy gave Natsu a puzzled look, and Sting looked up from the map, skin still pale from the (truly insane) speeds of the cart.

"What about children?"

"Nothing, Sting. Go back to your map."

"Fine." Sting glared weakly at said map. "I'm not getting anything useful from it, though. Seriously, what the _heck_ would justify taking a mass-death weapon and a _train_?"

"Any important targets?" Erza asked from the front of the car.

Sting growled. "Yeah, but nothing gathered in one place, located on the tracks, or remotely logical- Era is the most probable option, but it has too many protection barriers to get Lullaby through." Sting threw up his hands and glared at nothing, still a little queasy. "I _have _to be missing something, but I don't know _what_!"

Lucy glanced at the map. "Well, at least we know where they're ending up." Oshibana station. The place was a nexus for all sorts of tracks, and the next stop. It was impossible for them _not_ to be going there.

"You know, Lucy, I feel like I need to tell you something... but I don't remember what..." Happy frowned in concentration. Sting threw down the map with a huff, and gave Happy a confused look.

"What is it about?"

"I dunno... something weird."

Lucy gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sure you'll think of it."

"Lucy... weird... Lucy... weird."

Lucy made a face as Sting let out a weak chuckle. "Wait, _I'm _weird_?!"_

"No, I think this was a little less obvious..."

Meanwhile, Gray gave Erza a concerned look. "Erza, the SE plug isn't supposed to _swell. _You're going too fast!"

Sting looked out the window in front of them. Sure enough, the cable was bulging. Sting frowned. _That can't be healthy..._

"If we don't make it to Oshibana on time, people will die!"

Sting frowned. _If she keeps going like this, she'll probably be out of magic by the time we reach Oshibana. Maybe someone else should take over._ He glanced around. Lucy was still glaring at a thoughtful Happy. _Neither Lucy nor Happy have a lot of magical power- especially since Lucy uses Holder magic. They'll run out before we reach the station. _He looked up. _Gray _might_ be able to do it, but he'll be drained as well, and he's one of our powerhouses... maybe someone who can recharge magic energy?_ He looked at Natsu, who was currently trying to fall out of the cart, with only Lucy holding him back. _Oh, great. _Sting sighed, dread beginning to take a hold of his body. He leaned closer to Lucy.

"If I die, you can have my stash of marshmallows." He gulped, gathering all his courage.

Lucy blinked. "Wait, what are you-"

Sting reached forward and quickly detached the SE plug from Erza, reattaching it onto his arm. Erza whipped around and glared at him. Gray turned pale, and Lucy started shaking. _She's scary!_

"Sting? What exactly do you think you're doing?" Sting flinched, and deliberately looked out the window. _Don't make eye-contact, don't make eye-contact, don't make eye- contact..._

"Erza, I'm the only person here that can keep up the speed _and_ regain my magic energy." He grabbed his bag of marshmallows, making Gray sweat-drop. _What._

"If we end up facing Erigor, or Lullaby, we'll need _everyone_ at full capacity... so..." His voice trailed off, and a tense silence blossomed in-between them.

Finally, Erza smiled. "I agree." Everyone let out relieved sighs. Happy quietly raised an eyebrow as Lucy's hand moved away from her keys. "You are the best option for magic energy. Are you sure you can maintain this speed?"

Sting relaxed, happy Erza didn't kill him. "I can go faster, actually."

"Please do."

He grinned and gave her a cheerful salute. "Yes, ma'am!"

/

The cart screeched to a halt in front of the Oshibana station, as the pillar of smoke that caught their attention petered out. All of the wizard leapt out... save for Natsu and Sting.

Natsu was still unable to walk, which meant Lucy had to carry him... much to her annoyance. "I have to carry _this_ around?!"

"Sorry..." Natsu muttered.

Sting, meanwhile, had slid out, face down, not much better than Natsu. "Why did I agree to this...", he moaned.

Gray rolled his eyes and picked him up. He handed Sting a marshmallow. "Shut up and eat your marshmallows."

"Okay." He quietly munched on the treat, then hopped off of Gray, suddenly invigorated. "Thanks!"

"Don't do anything stupid."

"No promises!" He rushed off to help Lucy carry Natsu. Gray smirked. _He's like Natsu, but slightly less annoying._

One of the officials held up a megaphone. "Everyone, please stay back. This station is now closed to allow for maintenance due to a train derailment. No one is to enter until maintenance is complete."

Erza suddenly appeared next to him. "What's going on?!," she demanded. The official gave her an unimpressed look. "Why should I tell you, lady?"

She simply head-butted him and moved on to the next official. "What's going on?"

"Huh?"

**Bonk**.

"What's going on?"

"Eep!"

**Bonk.** Sting quickly backed up, and all the wizards looked away.

"She really is scary..." Sting muttered, concerned.

"She doesn't have any use for the slow ones, huh?" Lucy asked nervously.

"Welcome to my world," Gray replied, just as terrified.

"That's Erza for ya!" Happy smiled fearfully.

Said mage turned to them, making them flinch. "We're going in!"

/

"Where the heck's the army?" Sting asked. The wizards (except Natsu, who was still groggy) were running down the station. The last official, who'd filled them in on the situation, had informed them that an army platoon had been sent in to deal with Eisenwald. However, so far there was no sign of them.

At the head of the group was Erza, a determined glint in her eyes. "We can't depend on them- they are up against an entire guild. They wouldn't stand a chance."

Sting opened his mouth to protest... only for _that_ smell to register. He froze in his tracks.

"Sting?" Lucy gave him a concerned look. Sting began shaking again.

"I- I'm fine." He bent his head downward, making it impossible to see his face. _Come on, Sting. You knew this was coming..._ "Let's keep going."

Erza and Gray nodded, and ran ahead. Lucy slowed down a bit so she could run next to Sting.

The army, indeed, didn't stand a chance against Eisenwald- it was obvious where the scent of blood came from. Some of them were unconscious. Most weren't that lucky. Lucy quickly covered Sting's eyes, but it was too late. Sting's shaking intensified.

"Come on, Sting. I think they're in the next room."

Sting let out a shaky breath. "Yeah."

They stepped forward into the room.

* * *

*Burst out of the depths of the ground like a red dragon* I LIIIIVVEEEE!

Sorry this took so long! I'm taking a lot of summer courses. But don't worry! I'll still try to update often!

Before I continue, I just want to ask you to limit your swearing in any reviews you make. I'll still address any constructive criticism, but that's a more iffy thing.

Anyway, I got reviews with criticisms that I feel inclined to address- but first, Sting's discomfort with blood. Here's my reasoning. There's a comic-book character, the newer Batgirl, who's supposed to be sensitive to body language. When she makes her first kill (or witnesses her first death, don't really remember), she is affected by the body language of the dying man, and is understandably scarred. Sting has a pretty sensitive nose, so he'd be able to smell the blood after killing Weisslogia... and considering this happened when he was _five_, he is understandably traumatized.

Now, review stuff!

Lucy's skirt- Crap. Honest mistake about the color. I'll fix it in a bit, and update when I do.

Sting's calculator- Yep. Sting has a calculator. There's actually an in-universe explanation- I imagine Jude would not appreciate having a potential heir being an idiot, so he had Sting tutored in math and science. Because Sting was young and impressionable, he developed a love for those areas.

Lector- No, Sting doesn't have Lector _yet-_ but Lector (and Rogue, Fro, and Yukino) will appear a bit later.

Dragon Roar- No, it's a laser- or it is in the manga. Might not be what it's called, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a ducking duck. Anyway, the tornado of light from last chapter is a different form of the roar. I'll try to explain in later chapters...

Fix Length- The plan is the equivalent of the length of the _original_ series (up to Zeref's empire that I forgot the name), though I'm not planning anything for 100 years. Don't expect any plot twists from there to be relevant here- I already have a decent plan for Natsu's backstory, and I'm not letting an apparent foster brother screw it up.

South Wolves- While the monk person _can_ be called a wizard- the fire pan definitely counts as a magic item- the guild itself is not made of wizards. Just so you know.

And stuff I feel people will ask about anyway-

Zeref- Yeah, people know about Zeref being sympathetic- and his _little brother!_ Dun dun! I do have a plan for this... though Natsu isn't going to be _as_ involved with Zeref as he was in canon.

Gildarts- Yes, Gildarts isn't supposed to be a Wizard Saint- but there's no _flipping_ reasoning behind it. He made Natsu afraid. He made _frickin' Natsu_ afraid of him! And none of the other wizard saints seem to live up to that, so he's a Saint.


	6. Chapter 6- Lullaby- Part 2

Hiya! Still don't own Fairy Tail... but if I did, I would be the proudest child on earth. Oh well, this is fine. Please, Favorite, Follow, Review, Enjoy!

* * *

"I'm jealous, Makky. Your wizards all full of life and they're such cutie-pies." Bob, the master of Blue Pegasus (who was male and identified as such, despite his current attire of a low-cut pink tank top, striped shorts, and angel wings, and his lipstick and blush). He smiled pleasantly at Makarov, who was currently sitting on the table, drinking beer. "I hear you've got two new ones that gave some big shot quite the spanking."

Jiemma, the master of Sabertooth, sighed. He was currently wearing a red, toga-like shirt and long khaki pants as well as sandals. "Before or after they wrecked the mansion? Honestly, your mages have no... _constraint._"

Makarov shrugged, taking a swig from his mug. "In their defense, one of them is a dragon slayer- a young one, too. Sting has a long way to go to obtain control or maturity." A perverted grin spread across his face, making Jiemma sweat-drop. "His _sister__, _on the other hand..."

Bob covered his face with his hands. "Oh, so naughty!"

Jiemma put a hand to his face too, but out of exasperation. "I don't know what frustrates me more- the fact you won't stop hitting on every woman at least a fourth of your age, or that you managed to get _two_ dragons."

Makarov grinned. "Bet Jose won't be too pleased about that- though, that reminds me. How is your God Slayer?"

Jiemma sighed at the memory of _his_ newest member. "He's... an experience."

The guildmaster of Quatro Cerebrus, Goldmine, cleared his throat. He had long, blond hair and sunglasses, and a spiky red collar around his neck and his stereotypical witch's hat. Makarov turned to him. "Even if he _is_ young, you gotta admit that _all_ your wizards go overboard sometimes. Some of the council members are worried that Fairy Tail's going to end up destroying an entire city one of these days."

"Can't say that I blame them," Jiemma muttered. Makarov grinned and raised his glass.

"Ah, let those blowhards worry, what do I care? They're just jealous my wizards are _hot."_

Bob gave Makarov a mock-scandalized look. "Oh, Makky, you shouldn't talk about your little wizards that way. You're such a scoundrel."

"Master Makarov! Master Makarov!" A small, blue bird with a witch's hat floated up to Makarov with a letter in his talons. "I have a letter from Miss Mirajane, sir!"

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"No problem!"

The master circled his finger around the envelope, and a projection of Mira popped out of it. "Hi master! I'm glad you made it to the conference safe and sound."

The other guild masters immediately crowded around the table, making Makarov beam with pride. "See? This honey's our poster girl, Mirajane. Grab some eye candy, boys!" Cheers and wolf-whistles burst out from the crowd.

Jiemma tilted his head. "She's changed... quite a lot since a few years ago." Bob nodded in agreement.

Goldmine nodded as well. _She's got a reasonable excuse for such a change..._ Not that he'd ever say that out loud, of course.

Mira cupped her hands together and smiled up at Makarov. "Oh, Master, you're not gonna believe what happened. It may be the greatest thing in the history of Fairy Tail!"

"Really?"

"Erza, Natsu, and Gray have all teamed up together! And Sting and Lucy are tagging along too! An amazing combination, right?"

No. No it was not.

"I know Sting was supposed to be in Lucy's house, but I saw him sneak into Erza's luggage, and I figured it would be a good experience for him- especially with Natsu as a role-model!"

_Ooooh nooooo..._ Makarov began to shake, to the other masters' concern. Mira continued to talk.

"Sorry to bother you, but I had to send a quick note to tell you the exciting news! See you soon, Master!"

"Not... those... four..." Paperwork was bad enough with _one_ dragon. _Two_, one of which was too young to have the _semblance_ of control Natsu had? With Gray, Erza, and Natsu himself?

He fell backwards onto the table, stunned.

"Maybe I got lucky..." Jiemma muttered to himself.

Goldmine gave Makarov a dry look. "I guess the council has a good reason to be worried, huh?" Makarov began to twitch.

_I can't believe this is happening. __Sting and Natsu _alone _could destroy an entire city. The conference ends today, so I can be back at Fairy Tail by tomorrow afternoon. I just hope nothing crazy happens between now and then. Oh, _please_, let nothing happen!_

/

Sting grit his teeth. _I knew it was an entire guild, but..._

Lucy took a half step backwards. _So many... we have to fight all of them?!_

A small army worth of wizards stood in front of them, all with battle-hungry grins across their faces. Above them, a man with ash-grey hair covering the left side of his face, a cape and baggy pants, bandages wrapped around his arms, and tattoos covering his bare chest and arms sat leisurely. Slung over his shoulder was a large scythe. On the left side of his chest was a pitch-black mark of a scythe. _That must be the guild mark._

Even with the wind blowing away from him, Sting could smell the blood on the scythe. He shook his head. _Ignore it._

The man let out a chuckle as he looked up at them. "Welcome! Step into our parlor, Fairy Tail flies."

Erza glared up at him. "You fiend. I take it you're Erigor?"

Sting gave Natsu a concerned look as Lucy tried to wake him up. "Is he okay?"

Happy shook his head. "Between the train, the car, and Lucy, it's a motion sickness triple combo!"

"I AM NOT A VEHICLE!" Lucy screamed.

Kageyama noticed Sting. "Hey, you! It's your fault I got in trouble with Erigor."

Natsu's eyes snapped open. "Hey, wait..."

Sting raised an eyebrow as he stepped forward, fist glowing. "And I should care _why?_"

Erza stepped forward as well. Her hair began to float upward as she gathered her magic energy. "We're not threatened by any of you. Tell me what you're planning to do with Lullaby!" Erigor smirked.

"Oh, you haven't heard yet?" He jumped up, and Sting started at the sudden gust from behind him. Erigor hovered above them, using the extra air as a support. _Wind magic, huh?_

"What do all train stations have?"

Gray gave him a flat look. "Trains." Sting snickered.

Erigor glared at them. "Oh great. A smartass. What else?" He casually landed on a set of... _speakers? _Sting's pupils shrank.

_Crap. The station _itself_ is the target?_

Erza came to a similar conclusion. "You plan to broadcast the Lullaby's song?" Erigor let out an evil cackle.

"Thousands of nosy onlookers have flocked to this station to get a glimpse of the action. Who knows, if I raise the volume enough, I may be able to extinguish the entire city with my melody of death!"

"What reason do you have to commit such a heinous crime against the innocent people of this town?!" Erza challenged.

Erigor smirked. "This is a cleansing of all the fools out there who fail to appreciate the rights they hold so dear. Who remain willfully ignorant to the plight of those who've had their rights stripped away. They've committed the sin-"

"For the love of all things holy, _shut up._"

Everyone turned to Sting, who was giving Erigor an utterly unimpressed look.

"_God,_ I've read better monologues in _kid's books._ I can't believe that I was taking you seriously so far." Erigor grit his teeth.

"What does that mean, brat?"

Sting raised his eyebrows, a smug smirk tugging at his lips. _This is too easy._ He gave Erigor a lazy shrug. "Oh, nothing much. I was lookin' forward for a challenge, so I'm kinda disappointed."

Lucy sighed. "And killing them isn't gonna get your rights back. What were you thinking? This is _exactly_ why you lost your rights in the first place!" Sting nodded, almost studiously (though his smirk didn't disappear).

Gray started to wonder if he was the only sane person in the guild.

Sting gave him a confused look. "Where'd your shirt go?"

"Crap!"

Kageyama stepped forward. His shadow seemed to darken. "We're long past asking for permission! We are rolling in a new age of darkness- too bad you flies won't be able to see it! Shadow blades!" Twin tendrils burst out of his shadow, rushing for Sting. He grinned and dodged effortlessly.

"Missed again!" he said, almost sing-song.

Kageyama smirked as well. "Are you sure?" The tendrils suddenly changed direction...towards a terrified Lucy.

Sting's cockiness vanished in an instant, and his eyes widened. "NO!" Sting ran towards her, despite knowing he couldn't possibly reach on time. "LUCY, RUN!"

Lucy screamed and attempted to protect her face with her arms (_it won't be enough, those are blades, _run_ dammit!)._

A flurry of flames burst in front of Lucy, shattering the shadows like glass. Natsu gave Kageyama a battle hungry grin. "I _knew_ I recognized that voice."

"You're back to normal!" Lucy cheered. Sting let out a relieved laugh. Natsu smirked at the collection of dark wizards.

"Oh, wow. Looks like we've got ourselves a party, huh."

Lucy gave him a confused look. "Wha- no, Natsu, these are the guys we have to fight."

Natsu smacked his fist against his palm. "Like I said, it's a party." Sting gave him a starry eyed look, even as Gray rolled his eyes. _So cool._

Erigor let out a laugh. "I leave the rest to you. Show them the terror of the Dark Guild Eisenwald." He vanished with another gust of wind.

"He disappeared!" Happy cried.

"Natsu and Gray, go. I need you to stop him." Both of them stared incredulously at Erza, who ignored them. "If the two of you work together, not even Erigor the reaper can defeat you. I'm leaving him in your hands."

_That's a pretty big if..._ Sting sweat-dropped as Natsu and Gray glared at each other. Erza whirled around, making the two snap to attention. "What did I say?!"

"AYE!" They rushed off.

Lucy sighed. "So much for the strongest team..."

Sting laughed. "Oh, well- more for us, right?"

One of the wizards launched dark ribbons onto the ceiling. "I got it." He swung after Natsu and Gray. "I, the great Rayule, will take them down."

"I'm coming with you. I won't let those flies stop us now." Kageyama melted into the shadows.

Sting groaned. "Dang it! The guys I wanted to fight left!" Lucy sighed.

Erza shook her head. "We'll catch up with them once we've finished off the rest of the men here, okay?"

Lucy gulped. "But.. it's an entire magical guild!" Said guild seemed confident in their safety in numbers, making a lot of lewd comments towards Lucy and Erza (to Sting's anger).

"Meh. We can take them." Sting gave the wizards a dark grin as his fists began to glow. "Like Natsu said, this is a party. So. Let's _party._"

Erza held a hand in front of her, activating a rose-colored magic circle. "Let's do this." She pulled out a sword from the circle.

Sting blinked. "Requip magic?"

"If you insult the Fairy Tail guild again in my presence, I swear none of you will to see tomorrow." A bunch of swordsmen rushed forward.

"We're not scared of you!"

"We got tons of magic swordsmen in Eisenwald!"

Erza didn't give them a chance. With two slashes, the swordsmen were launched backwards. She sprung into the crowd and tore through their ranks like they were tissue paper. Lucy's eyes widened.

_Oh, wow._

"I'll show you!" A group of mages launched laser attacks at Erza. Smirking, Sting rushed forward and sucked up the light. The mages stepped back as Erza leapt up, replacing her sword with a spear.

"What the hell?!"

Sting grinned. "Surprised? White Dragon's Roar!" A torrent of white energy blasted from his mouth, launching the mages backwards. The pair of wizards ran into the Eisenwald forces, easily wiping the floor with them.

Lucy sighed as she noticed some of the dark wizards trying to escape. "Well, guess I should join in too." Happy gave her an unhappy look. "Why do you have to go and try to steal the spotlight from her?"

She ignored this, grabbed a key and slashed at the air. "Open! Gate of the Arctic Lynx! Lynceus!" Lyn had an eyebrow raised at the chaos as he strolled out of the light. Happy let out a fanboy squeal.

"Wotcher, Lucy. Am I really needed here? Those two seem to have it covered."

Lucy shook her head. "I need you to keep the dark wizards from escaping, and stop them from ganging up on us."

Happy blinked. "Oh, I get it! That will help Sting and Erza beat them quicker."

Lyn smirked. "Not a problem, love." He slung the hunting rifle across his back and pulled out his flintlock. A predator's smile formed on his face as his eyes glowed gold. He fired quickly at the escaping wizards, dropping them like flies.

One wizard tried to throw a punch from behind him. "I'm not afraid of you, ya damn cat!"

Lyn simply tilted his body out of the way and used the wizard's momentum to throw him to the ground, shooting him once in the back with a tranquilizer dart. He gave the other wizards an amused but unblinking stare as he lazily spun his pistol. "Next." The wizards dropped their weapons and ran. Or, tried running. Rolling his eyes skyward, Lyn shot them down. "Thought so."

Erza glanced over at them. "Impressive." In front of her, Sting was letting out whoops of joy as he trashed the mages in front of him.

Lucy let out a sheepish laugh. "Oh, thanks, but it was no big deal." _Alright! I totally scored points with her!_ Happy sighed, guessing what she was going for.

"However, this cat spirit of yours, the way he refers to you as "love" is rather demeaning."

"Points un-scored..." Lucy whimpered. Lyn gave Erza a puzzled look.

"Ah... apologies, lo- miss."

Sting glanced around as he wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. "Still a lot of guys left... you'd think we'd be done by now."

Erza sighed. "Annoying, but I'll wipe them out." A magic circle appeared below her feet, and her armor began to glow a blinding white light. The wizards were pretty excited about that development.

"Whoa! Her armor's disappearing! Guys, I think she's stripping!" Lyn casually shot the person who said that, making him pass out. Sting shrugged. _If he didn't do it, I would._

Happy smiled. "Most magic swordsmen only have the ability to swap their weapons, but Erza's able to swap her armor for wizarding armor that enhances her abilities."

"Requip! Blood Lioness Armor!" The light burst outward, revealing Erza's new armor.

Her chestplate was smaller than before, though not necessarily revealing, and bronze. She also had shoulder guards, grieves and gauntlets (the latter of which ended in claw-like shapes) of the same metal, and the rest of it was made up of a brown and red scaly leather, with her arms remaining bare. It was also decorated with blood-red rubies. At her chest was an ankh, with a large ruby within its loop. A dark maroon cloak reached down to the small of her back, and she wore gilded sandals. Her hair was braided back with bronze wires studded with rubies. By her side was a bronze sword that curved like a longbow. It was engraved with several blood-red markings. Happy smiled.

"It's a talent that only she possesses. That's what makes her magic special. A technique called The Knight."

Lucy's eyes widened. "That's- that's Spharoan* armor! I never thought I'd see it in person!" Sting sighed, blocking the punch sent his way. _That explain the non-Fiorian design and the runes. _Still, Lucy was _way _too interested in ancient historical stuff.

The dark wizards seemed more disappointed. Sting decided he didn't want to know what they were expecting.

One of the wizards, however, was panicking. "I recognize her! That's Titania Erza- Queen of the Fairies!"

Erza used the sword to slash the air in front of her, leaving a trail of ruby colored light. "Crimson Rage!" The red light shattered, and the shards rushed towards the enemies. They knocking most of the dark wizards out cold.

Lucy gaped. "With only one attack?"

Only two more wizards were left standing, one of which was fighting Sting. Erza grit her teeth. _Crimson Rage can't tell the difference between ally and enemy... I can't afford to use it on them. Sting may be hurt._

Lyn gave her a lazy smirk as he sheathed his flintlock. He seemed to be able to read her thoughts. "No need to worry. He'll wrap up in a bit."

Sting smiled at the guy as he avoided attacks. "You know, I realized what I did wrong last time."

The whiskered wizard growled, lashing out with a glowing fist. "The hell you talking about?" Sting dodged easily. _Now!_

"The symbol wasn't the problem- I just need to aim better." Sting's grin widened, and he pushed a glowing hand into the wizard's solar plexus. "White Dragon's Claw!" The man flew backward, and stopped moving. Sting continued to talk, ignoring the man's growing panic. "Last time, I aimed for the stomach- the plexus is a bit lower on the torso than that. This should last a bit longer." Sting punched the man's stomach, and he fell to the ground. The symbol continued to glow. Sting pumped his fists and cheered. "YES! FINALLY!" He abruptly whipped his head around at a disturbing angle and gave the last wizard (a pudgy man with large, fish-like lips) an evil grin, eyes glinting. "_You're next."_

"Eep!" Fish lips dove into the wall, disappearing with a golden circle. Sting's eye twitched.

"... diver magic? AGAIN? ARE YOU FREAKIN' SERIOUS?!" He let out an angry screech.

Erza shut her eyes. "He's probably going after Erigor. Lucy, Sting, you two should go after him."

Lucy looked up after dismissing Lyn. "Actually, I think it'd be better if we-"

Erza gave them both a glare of death. _"Just do it."_ Both Sting and Lucy let out terrified yelps before running off, Happy floating after them.

"Yes ma'am!" _Oh, _that's_ why Natsu's afraid of her!_

"Whatever you say!" _I don't want to make her angry!_

/

Sting let out a frustrated growl. He was pretty sure that Fish Lips was literally running around in circles. The scent trails overlapping and literally passing through walls were not helping locate the guy. He turned to Happy.

"I don't suppose _you _found anything?"

Happy sighed and shook his head. Sting grit his teeth. Lucy smacked her forehead.

"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" She pulled out another silver key.

"Open! Gate of the Hunter! Orion!" Orion coalesced from the silver light and gave Lucy a dorky salute.

"What is it, Lucy?"

"We need to track down a wizard. His name is..." Lucy frowned. "Well, he was a roundish Eisenwald wizard with green hair, a red jacket-"

Orion's voice shifted to a monotone. "_Karacka Kawanabe__, Phasing Magic and Knife Proficiency. Known assassin. Last seen: 20 minutes ago. Last contact: Byard Endo, train station main room, 10 minutes ago._"

Sting blinked. "Wait, what? He's still there?!"

Lucy shook her head. "Not likely."

Orion nodded in agreement. "Perhaps Byard gave him a new set of orders."

Happy tilted his head. "What do you think those orders are?"

Sting shrugged. "Let's just ask the guy ourselves." Lucy dismissed Orion, and they began to run back in the direction the came from. Happy suddenly froze in front of a window. Sting turned back and gave Happy a puzzled look.

"What is it?" He and Lucy looked out the window, and their eyes widened.

A large wall of dusty wind blocked their view of the outside city. Happy gave the windstorm a horrified look. "That's a wind barrier! It looks like its surrounding the station!"

Lucy's eyes widened. "Erigor must have cast it! Does that mean we're trapped?"

Sting frowned. "Wait, winds going at those speeds tend to disrupt sound pretty easily, right?"

Lucy gave Sting a puzzled look. "Well, yea-" Lucy's eyes widened when she realized. "So why would he cast that spell if it'd make Lullaby less effective..."

"...Unless that wasn't his plan in the first place!" Happy finished. Sting groaned in frustration.

"Onibas wasn't even the target?! So what _is_ it? Most of the towns can be accessed easily with magic-mobiles- well except for Clover, but there's _nothing-_" Sting suddenly stopped, pupils shrinking. "Oh. Oh, no."

Lucy and Happy gave him concerned looks. "What about Clover?"

"...No no no no no no no no NO **NO**!" Sting ended the mantra in a roar, making Lucy and Happy flinch. Sting began to rant with furious tears forming in his eyes, ignoring the other two. "WHY DIDN'T I REMEMBER BEFORE?! OH, GOD, HE'S PROBABLY GOING TO CLOVER RIGHT NOW, AND WE CAN'T DO ANY THING BECAUSE OF THE _STUPID_ BARRIER!"

"Sting, what are you talking about?" Lucy never saw Sting lose his cool like this before. Sting let out a mirthless laugh, freaking Happy out.

"What is it?"

"I was only thinking of _permanent_ residents back then. I forgot about guests, and- oh, god, they're going to die because I'm an _idiot_, and-"

"STING!" Lucy yelled. Sting snapped out of it, and visibly struggled to get himself back together. He was still shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Happy floated up to Sting, freaking out himself. "Who are the targets?"

Sting continued to shake, and the tears spilled out. "The guild master's conference is in Clover."

Happy's and Lucy's eyes widened. _Oh._ Happy began to hyperventilate. "No. Please, not Master Makarov."

Lucy got a determined glint in her eyes. "Looks like interrogating Byard just got more important."

Sting nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Yeah. It did"

/

"You're back." Erza stated. Gray had apparently returned, though Natsu wasn't anywhere in sight. They were both interrogating the fallen dark wizards.

"Guys, they're targeting the masters at Clover!" Lucy was still a little panicky, and Happy was even worse off. Erza nodded and Gray sighed.

"We know. We just found out a few minutes ago."

Sting gave the dark wizards a cold look.

"So. Which one of you is Byard?"

The whiskered wizard from before looked up and gave him a puzzled look. The rune had worn off, but he was still not moving. Sting let out an angry growl.

"How's your friend doing? Karacka, was it? Heard you two had a chat pretty recently. 10 minutes ago, right?" Byard gave him a confused look. _How does he...?_ Sting grabbed him by the front of the shirt. Lucy started.

"Sting, wait!" Sting ignored her.

"You wanna tell me what you two talked about?" He didn't even bother glaring. Somehow, that was much more terrifying to Byard.

"Enough." Erza put an arm on his shoulder. "We need to find Kageyama."

Sting raised his eyebrows. He dropped Byard like a heavy sack of rocks. The dark wizard whimpered in pain. "Oh, yeah, for the wind barrier, right?" Erza nodded.

Byard let out a quiet chuckle. "You're too late. Karacka's already after him..."

Gray's eyes widened, and Erza grit her teeth. Lucy turned pale. Sting and Happy gave each other a puzzled look, not quite getting the implications. Happy finally spoke. "He's gonna help Kageyama escape?"

Sting frowned. "How, though? Isn't Kageyama supposed to be the dispeller? If anything, it'd be the otherway around"

None of the other three wizards had the heart to share their own theory. Finally, Gray spoke. "Can you guys track down Kageyama?"

Sting nodded. "Yeah. I don't think he'll be as roundabout as Karacka, since he was chasing Natsu, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Lucy had a very bad feeling about this, but in any case, they needed to get to Kageyama. "Let's go!"

/

They heard a loud rumble come from the room ahead. They quickly ran forward. Natsu was standing there, Kageyama slumped against the wall. Lucy rushed ahead.

"Natsu! Don't hurt him! We need him alive." Sting sweatdropped and muttered, "I don't think he was gonna kill him..."

"Way to go, fire-freak!" Gray called out. Natsu gave them a puzzled look. This quickly turned to fear when Erza lunged forward with her sword.

He let out a squeak. "I don't know what I did wrong, but I'm sorry!" Erza rushed past him to Kageyama and lashed out with her sword. Natsu backed up quickly. Lucy gave him a sympathetic look. _You know, if it were anyone else, this would be hilarious._ Sting looked around.

"Karacka isn't here yet?"

Natsu gave him a confused look. "What do maracas have to do with this?" Sting laughed nervously. _I really hope he's joking._

"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't know. He was the large fish-lipped person."

"Oh! I... don't remember him." Lucy sighed and Gray rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, Kageyama let out a gasp. The Fairy Tail wizards whirled around to see a dagger was sticking out through his torso. "Why, Karacka..."

"Kage!"

A sticky, metallic smell hit Sting's nostrils, and he tried his best not to vomit. _Blood... _Lucy held him close, but he barely noticed, and he shook violently.

"Well, at least we know where he went." Erza (who had rushed to Kageyama's side) and Lucy both glared at Gray, who immediately backed up. Sting didn't seem to hear, and Natsu was still giving Karacka a dumbfounded look.

"Kage, don't you dare die on us. We need your help. Do you hear me?"

"I think we're losing him, Erza."

"You're the only one of us that's able to dispel the wind barrier! Just hang on."

Sting let out a quiet whimper. Lucy began to stroke his hair, murmuring quiet comforting words, and Happy snuggled in close as well. Even Karacka's right hand began to tremble. Natsu clenched his fists.

"How could you do that to one of your friends? He's a member of your guild! He trusted you and your tried to KILL HIM!" With a roar, Natsu's entire body ignited. Karacka let out a yelp and ducked back into the wall. Natsu snarled.

"HOW COULD YOU?!" He lunged forward and lashed at the wall, shattering it. Karacka collapsed like a puppet without strings. "Is that how you Dark Guild members treat each other?"

As Erza and Gray tried to revive Kageyama (a little... aggressively in Erza's case), Sting gathered up his composure. He let out a soft laugh. "What is this? The third time today? God, I'm pathetic."

Lucy glared at him. "You are _not_ pathetic. You're... you, Sting." Sting gave her an empty smile.

"Well, yeah, last time I checked. Come on. We need to save the Guild Masters."

Natsu blinked as he turned to them. "Wait, what?"

/

"WHITE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

Natsu lunged forward, and Sting sent out a whirlwind of white energy. The barrier absorbed the two attacks, then rebounded the magic energy as electricity. Sting let out a yelp as the lightning scorched him, and Natsu was launched backward. Sting shook his head like a wet dog, rubbing the scorch marks.

"Why does a wind spell use lightning anyway? Whatever. Long range attacks aren't working on this." He gave Natsu a concerned look as the teen lunged forward again. "Neither are close range attacks, but..."

Natsu ignored this. "We have to break through! We need to save Makarov!" He lashed out repeatedly at the barrier. The rebound launched him backwards.

Gray gave Natsu an irritated look. "Cut it out, you idiot. Obviously, brute force isn't gonna do you any good."

Sting glared at him. "You got a better idea? Because I'd love to hear it." Natsu charged at the barrier again.

"Natsu, stop it! You're gonna get torn to shreds!" Lucy ran up to him and held him back. Natsu stared at her. Lucy blushed at the intensity of his gaze. "What?"

"AH!" Lucy leapt back, and Sting gave them a curious glance. Natsu gave the two of them a happy look. "We could use your spirits! Like at Everlue's place!"

Sting gave him a confused look. "But.. it really doesn't work like that."

Lucy nodded. "Normal people would suffocate if they tried that!"

"But it's like Sting said! If it's only for a second, then it doesn't matter!"

Sting sighed. "But there's literally no way we can open a gate outside this barrier. We need another celestial wizard outside the barrier."

"Huh?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Basically, we have a door in here, but no door out there. Besides, the very act of a human entering the spirit world is a serious breech of contract."

"Oh!... crap."

Gray sighed, and Erza gave the trio an interested look. _She must have experience simplifying explanations._

Happy frowned. "Everlue's place... breech of contract... AH!"

Lucy and Sting let out startled yelps (and glared at Gray when he snickered at them). "What?"

Happy trotted up to Lucy. "I just remembered, Lucy."

Lucy gave him a disturbed look. "Remembered what?"

"WHAT I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU ON THE WAY HERE!" Lucy leaned backwards. _Is it even possible for someone so small to be that loud?_

Sting tilted his head. "What, about Lucy being weird?"

"No, this!" He reached into his green pack, and pulled out a golden key. Lucy's jaw dropped, and Sting's eyes practically popped out of his skull.

"That's- that's a zodiac key! How do you forget something like that?! They're literally one of a kind!"

"Wait, that's Virgo! YOU STOLE EVERLUE'S KEY?! Didn't anyone teach you it's wrong to steal?"

Both the siblings continued to yell at Happy (who weakly tried to justify himself by saying cats had poor memories). Gray and Natsu sweat dropped. _Well, at least they're adjusting to guild-life._

"Come on, guys. We're wasting way too much of our time listening to this nonsense."

Natsu blinked. "Who's Virgo? Oh, wasn't she that big gorilla-looking maid?"

Happy nodded, massaging his ears (which Lucy had pinched). "Yeah. She said that her contract with Everlue was broken as soon as he was arrested. She came up to me and said she wanted to sign a new contract with you, Lucy."

Sting frowned. "Wait, I thought death was the only way to break a contract."

Lucy nodded her head. "Technically it is, but it's also common procedure for Celestial wizards caught in wrongdoing to be forced to break their contracts. Council officials would have made him break the contract with Virgo." She slumped at the memory of Virgo. "Still, I get the big, ugly spirit, huh..."

Sting rolled his eyes. "Hey, Virgo's still a Zodiac. right? She'd be around Aquarius in terms of strength, so that'd be good." He shuddered. "Besides, she wasn't the _worst_ of the maids..." He shook his head. "Anyway, that's awesome and everything, but we still need to get out of this barrier."

Happy looked down at his paws. "I just thought that since Virgo can drill tunnels, maybe we can go under the barrier to get past it."

All of the Fairy Tail wizards felt their eyes widen. "She can?" Erza asked.

"Seriously?"

Sting face palmed. "How did I forget? Come to think of it, why didn't you just say that?!"

Happy stared deep into his and Lucy's eyes. "Some people were pinching my face."

Sting and Lucy, understandably, looked sheepish. They both bowed to Happy.

"I'm so sorry!"

"Our bad."

Happy shrugged. "Just get me some fish and all is forgiven." Gray gave them a dry look. _And they say that _we're_ weird?_

Sting gave his sister a concerned look as she grabbed Virgo's key. "Are you sure you can handle this? You already summoned Lupa, Lyn, and Orion today."

Lucy smiled. "I'll be fine." She held the key in front of her, and a soft, golden glow surrounded her. "I call upon the keeper of the Gate of the Maiden. Come forth- Virgo!" The light intensified, and all of the wizards shut their eyes. When they opened them again, Lucy slumped to the floor. Sting caught her, and gave the spirit a confused look.

"Lucy, I think you messed up."

The spirit (Sting was not entirely sure it was Virgo) bowed politely at Lucy. The only real similarities this spirit had with Virgo was their identical maid costume and pink shade of hair. The new spirit, however, was _much_ smaller, and Sting could actually see her eye color- a nice shade of blue. Sting gave her a puzzled look. _She _smells_ like Virgo, but..._

"You summoned, mistress? What can I do for you?"

Natsu gave her a suspicious look (he probably had similar thoughts to Sting) and Happy and Lucy simply looked stunned. "Who are you?"

Natsu shrugged. "What's up? Man, you look great. You lost some weight."

"My name's Virgo. I apologize for any trouble I might have caused you."

Lucy managed to stand back up. "She didn't just lose weight, Natsu!"

Gray gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Sting was still giving Virgo a puzzled look. "If it weren't for the smell, I'd say Lucy somehow summoned a different spirit." Virgo heard this and turned to them.

"I'm a very loyal spirit who'll do anything to please her wizard, so I try to take whatever form I think my wizard will find most appealing." Sting blinked. _Oh yeah, Everlue had very... nonstandard tastes in beauty..._ He began to quiver in a way that reminded Gray of Natsu on a train. Gray sweat dropped. _How bad were these maids?_

Natsu noticed as well, and he got an impish look on his face. "I don't know, I kind of liked it when you were all big and tough looking."

"Did you really? Well, then..." As Virgo began to glow, Sting's eyes widened in horror. "Wait, no-"

Virgo switched back to her old form, causing Gray to choke on thin air, Lucy to jump back, and Sting to whimper "Why..."

"I can switch back if you like."

Lucy glared at Natsu. "Don't listen to him, I'm your wizard, and I like the other form better." Virgo shifted back, much to everyone's relief.

"As you wish, mistress."

Gray leaned in closer to Sting. "Are you sure she wasn't the worst of the maids?"

Sting shuddered. "Yes."

Lucy sighed. "We don't have a lot of time, so can we work out the contract details later?"

"Of course, whatever you'd like, mistress."

"You don't have to call me mistress."

Virgo stared at Lucy's whip. "Would you prefer I called you dominatrix?" Gray choked trying to stop his laughter, and Sting gave the whip a confused look. _What's a dominatrix?_

Lucy gave Virgo a flat look. "No."

"What about princess?"

"Oh, yeah, that's more like it." Gray and Natsu gave them flat looks.

_Princess? Yeah, right._

_Hurry it up, ladies._

Sting, more used to his sister, simply rolled his eyes. "Can we focus? Okay, sis, how long can you maintain Virgo?"

Lucy shrugged. "I think we have a minute. Virgo, can you dig a tunnel underneath the wind barrier?"

"Yes, princess. Now." With a simple bow, she dove into the ground, quickly creating a tunnel.

"Oh, wow, look at her go!" Gray said, looking impressed. Erza hugged Lucy close (accidently slamming her into her chest plate). "Nicely done, Lucy."

Sting grinned. "Well, time to go!"

"Wait." Natsu picked up Kageyama and slung him over his shoulder. Gray glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I know he's one of our enemies, but I'd feel guilty if we just left him here to die." Sting gave him a look full of admiration, and Erza gave him a respectful nod.

/

"That was easier than I thought it'd be." Sting commented. The winds were pretty violent, even when they were so far away. Sting covered his eyes to keep the dirt out. Lucy slumped to the ground after dismissing Virgo, but Gray managed to catch her.

Erza nodded. "Let's head to Clover."

Kageyama let out a soft laugh. Sting briefly wondered what he was doing on the ground. _I thought Natsu was holding him. _"It's no use. You'll never be able to catch up to Erigor. You can't stop us. We've won." Sting rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well... wait, where are Natsu and Happy?" Sure enough, the two were no where to be seen. Then, a loud bang, almost like thunder, rippled through the air, making Sting and Lucy jump. Everyone was quick to connect the dots.

"...Was that a sonic boom?" Sting asked.

"...Did Happy just break the sound barrier?" Lucy asked, just as stunned.

/

Kageyama stared at them. Lucy was still tired from summoning multiple spirits, and was leaning on Gray. Sting was almost as miserable, thanks to a combination of motion sickness and the SE plug. Erza was pushing the cart (and Sting) to the very limits. That, in itself, wasn't the source of his confusion.

"So tell me, why are you taking me with you?"

Lucy gave him a concerned look. "Because you obviously need a doctor, and since everyone left town, you'll have to see one in Clover. Try and show some gratitude."

"I don't understand. Why are you helping me? We're enemies. Oh, wait, I get it. You're taking me hostage so you can try to make a deal with Erigor. Well, you can forget it. He could care less about me or any of his men."

Sting looked up. "...Dear god, it really is like the kids books. Seriously, dude, lighten up."

Gray looked out the window, annoyed. "If you want to die, we can make that happen."

Lucy gave him a disturbed look. "Chill, Gray!" Sting probably would have made a joke, but he was starting to feel very tired. _Looks like the SE is taking a lot out of me._

Gray ignored her. "There's a whole lot more to this world than just life and death, you know? You should try to look for the positive, you and your Eisenwald pals." Kageyama shut his eyes, and he pondered this.

Suddenly, the car lurched, shoving Lucy butt-first into Kageyama's face. Sting yelped. _Must have passed out._ He quickly bit into another marshmallow, but, to his concern, it didn't give him the surge of magic it was supposed to.

"What happened?" Gray asked. Sting gave him an apologetic look.

"I think I passed out for a second there. Won't happen again." Gray opened his mouth (probably to say something that was well meaning and that they didn't have time for), but Kageyama spoke instead.

"Could your butt be any bigger?" Sting let out a weak chuckle as Lucy screeched in indignant anger.

"SEXUAL HARASSMENT! KILL HIM, GRAY!"

"Hey, I worked hard on that speech, don't make me waste it."

Erza gave Sting a concerned look. "Should I slow down?"

"No." Sting gave the road ahead a determined look, ignoring how the rocks seemed to blur. "We need to get to Clover as soon as possible. I'll live until then."

_I just hope we make it there on time._

* * *

* Basically Ancient Egypt. The Blood Lioness Armor is based on Egyptian armor + the goddess Sekhmet. The main reason I changed it up is because 1) Erza's supposed to be a knight, not a... well... 2) what's the point of being emotionally dependent on armor when your armor is a literal metal bikini?

*Bursts out of the ground like a zombie* Hi! I'm still alive!

Sorry about another long wait. I wanted to finish Lullaby early, but this got way too long. Also, summer homework sucks.

By the way, Sting is gonna stick with Fairy Tail as long as possible, in case you were wondering. Sabertooth Sting is canon, but he's Fairy Tail here.

See you soon!


End file.
